Slave To Who?
Riding a mount whose gait carries him across oceans,
Wearing a cloak that darkens the full breadth of land;
He thirsts to inflame our thoughts and provoke our motions,
Against his relentless sowing of corruption who can stand?
But while he delights to torment and make all of life bleak,
Man's foe is not this demon, it's no goblin, no witch, no elf;
Our own hearts deceive us, our arms fail us, we are weak,
The one who assaults and ruins and supplies our hurt, is 'self'.
Yet we imagine the world's hope is to fan some divine spark within,
Pretending spirituality while to our appetites our energies are poured;
Created mortal, bound to material, intoxicated by the flesh, a slave to sin,
Opposed to the adoption, the spiritual birth, and freedom in the Lord.
Born slaves of our fears and desires, feeding to distract from what we long,
We mock His eternal truth yet He became man and knows our need;
The first become the last, the rich must be poor, the weak are made strong,
Asserting ourselves free we serve our stomach, while slaves of Jesus are free indeed.
Through religion we try,
But to live we must die;
It's not about good we do,
It's about being born anew.
Die to self and live to love,
By being born of His Spirit - born from above.
- Regular, Normal Christianity
I believe many folks are turned off, not by authentic Christianity, but by the too often ugly, discordant, and silly religion some have concocted and falsely labeled "Christianity" - The Christian & Private Study - A 'How To' Guide
You don't have to be a scholar to study Scripture effectively and you don't have to be intimidated because of unfamiliar terms and references - there are essential things you can know and aids to use that will make your own private study fruitful.
