Consider This

 

 Consider this if you will

Not all Jews are Jews,

This sounds particularly contradictory

Now listen for the news.

 

For they are not all Israel

Which are of Israel

How should we take this:

Physical, natural or spiritual?

 

The truth of the matter is

All three are involved,

If we look carefully at the transition

This matter can be resolved.

 

Jesus once said to the Jews

You are of your father, the devil

And if he were not who he was

It would have been to his peril.

 

The Jews had challenged him

Regarding their father, Abraham

But Jesus seemed to be saying

That is no longer the plan.

 

Being natural has no rights

To that which belongs to the spiritual,

From the old covenant to the new

The spiritual regulates the natural.

 

This will probably be hard

For any naturalized Israelite Jew,

He sees himself as the chosen

And he must have his due.

 

His due to a promised land

As a son of Abraham,

How dare Jesus come and change

What was the original plan!

We see a little bit at a time

That is but a tiny dot

But all too often it swells in our eyes

And our dot becomes the lot.

 

A single piece of the puzzle

Becomes the whole puzzle

And such was the case with the Jews

As it related to Israel.

 

God has a glorious plan

It proceeds from the natural to the spiritual,

From Eden’s creation to a new creation

From the old Israel to the new Israel.

 

No longer the middle wall of partition

No longer the Gentile and the Jew,

Where once these were separate

They are now one not two.

 

Only one way to the kingdom

That is through Jesus Christ the Lord,

Only one way to salvation

That is by believing on his word.

Consider this, I urge one and all

It is not a replacement theology,

It is the working out of God’s glorious plan

Upon which hangs our destiny.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019

 

When What Matters Does Not Matter

 

 

When what matters does not matter

Is not uncommon, I hope see,

And you would be amazed to recognize

It is far more common than appears to be.

 

We pay a lot of attention, most noticeably,

To matters that are of minor import

And situations that urgently require attention

Receive comparatively little support.

 

When what matters does not matter

Makes minor of a major need,

It is like trimming a patient’s fingernails

While a major artery bleeds.

The minor clearly is the patient’s fingernails

While the major is his rapid blood loss,

However, as ridiculous as this analogy may seem

The practice bears an astronomical cost.

 

Take for example, a country’s economy

That is hemorrhaging out of control,

Yet the emphasis is on revenue generating

With no effort to plug the leaking hole.

 

Or, take for example, in a COVID environment

Where the urge is to revel and play mass,

This is far more needful to countless individuals

Than the importance of wearing a mask.

 

When what matters does not matter,

There can be irreversible fallout:

Like the many lives that can be lost

And the irreparable damage without doubt.

Many times, it is cited as collateral damage:

The price that is paid for the common good

But that is when what matters does not matter

As that which matters really should.

 

And what goes hand in hand with this theme

Is when what does not matter matters,

This is when we major on the minor

And the major is lost in meaningless chatter.

 

Like an assembled group of worthy experts

Vying to win the argument

And nothing or very little is accomplished

With much time and money spent.

 

Finally, when what matters does not matter

Is also applicable to the spiritual,

It matters so much regarding the temporal

But little thought is paid to the eternal.

 

When what matters does not matter

Is really thinking like a child

And, not in the purity of the sense as some deem,

But in a childish way as must be applied.

 

When what matters really matters

Matured thinking inevitably will result

But when what matters does not matter

We will be no better off than a cult.

 

It is essential to know the essentials

And to prioritize accordingly

For when what matters does not matter

This is the recipe for unrelenting misery.

 

Stewart Russell © January 12, 2021

 

It Occurred to Me

Something occurred to me

That brought me back to earth,

Oft times I’ve been given more credit

Far more than I am worth.

I have a knack for writing

But I think it is mostly natural,

Not in the realm of the gifted

Nothing supernaturally special.

Some of my readers disagree

With the position that I hold,

They think I am specially gifted

I really think they are bold.

Often what I write astounds me,

I know I am not that bright

So I dare not take the credit,

Beyond me was a greater light.

A light that gave me insight

Far beyond my natural ability,

With which the idea originated

Followed by spiritual visibility.

Illumination and inspiration

Should not be confused with raw talent,

The latter is of natural source

The former is from heaven sent.

The two when synced together

Creates an extraordinary product

That turns one’s view from within

And propels it out and up.

Every good gift the Bible states

Comes down to us from heaven

So for me to take credit for such poems

I would be sadly mistaken.

So today I give God all the praise

Today I give Him all the credit

For without Him I can do nothing,

This has become my daily edict.

  

So my friend each time you read

A very special poem I write

Remember that it did occur to me

That I am not nearly that bright.

Stewart Russell © January 2019