A Formal Complaint

A Formal Complaint

We refuse to go and rescue the lost from wicked camps,
And glow for Jesus pure and holy with oil in our lamps.
We refuse to fast and pray for the death of a selfish will,
And nail our affections upon the cross and give up our flesh to kill.

Because we refuse to die to self and all our worldly winning,
We can't weep for hell bound lost who blindly go on sinning.
We back down from demonic holds in cities, in schools and jails;
And because our swords are in their sheaths, the evil one prevails.

We refuse to yield our lives, our dreams, our ambitions to Christ;
And we're afraid to stake a claim because the world won't think it's nice.
We refuse to fill ourselves, daily overflowing with God,
And thus we're unable to mortify the deeds that our joy in Christ do rob.

We refuse to see God's heart is broken and crushed and grieved,
Because we refuse to be the church of glory He so needs.
We refuse to walk rejected and mocked by all who see us,
For it's far too costly to walk and talk a life that glorifies Jesus.

We refuse to work this day as Jesus did with the lost,
And we refuse to die this day as Jesus did on the cross.
We only need His love, His blessings, His favors, His pleasures, His gain,
But we refuse to carry His burdens, His sorrows, His tears, His pain.

We refuse to fast the flesh and feast the spirit well,
And thus we never last in prayer where our groanings throttle hell.
We refuse to soar to heights so near the Father's heart;
We're only content to hear nice sermons and on Sundays play the part.

We refuse to stunt the growth of the devil's vile plan.
We refuse to quench the darts that burn the soul of man.
We refuse to spread the story of the precious gospel seed,
And by shunning this, we strip the glory of Jesus to those in need.

We won't carry the bloody cross; our pride, our comfort we must keep,
And thus we murder by shutting the gate and starving the blind, lost sheep.

Paul, this is sooooo good! It is chuck full of bare-naked truth.

I wish to seek clarification on one line:

We only need His love, His blessings, His favors, His pleasures, His gain
But we refuse to carry His burdens, His sorrows, His tears, His pain.

I’m not sure what you mean.
Are you implying: We only WANT his temporal blessings, and use them to gratify our insatiable greed and self-centeredness.

Or are you implying just what you say: that his love, his blessings, his favors, his GAIN are enough for us, ie - they are all we NEED; and so we have no reason to seek the world to satisfy us. In that case the second line could read something like this:

“But we REFUSE to be satisfied by what he has so lovingly offered us,
we REFUSE to rest in the green pastures,
and we insist on seeking satisfaction and fulfilment from the arid lands.”

"Godliness with contentment is great GAIN" 1 Tim. 6:6 ... and so we never complain... after all:

"His divine power has given us everything we NEED for life and godliness..." 2 Pet. 1:3

I suspect that because we aren’t satisfied with HIS blessings, HIS love, HIS favors, and HIS GAIN we seek elsewhere. We don’t TRUST that God has most generously (!) provided all we need to satisfy us. If we did, then we would most willingly suffer for him, for the sake of others. After all, we’d have nothing to lose - we have it all in Christ.

“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 Jn 2:2

I dare say, that when a child deeply knows that he is favored and loved by Daddy, he will not try to fill the void in his heart in wrong ways, and he will want more than anything else to please his Daddy.

3"Blessed (FAVORED by God) are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed (FAVORED by God) are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed (FAVORED BY God are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Diane

Excellent, Brother Paul. Very sad, but true!

May it be changed as suggested by Brother Greg to I accept!

Lord help Me! Lord Change ME!

Are you implying: We only WANT his temporal blessings, and use them to gratify our insatiable greed and self-centeredness.

Diane,

Yes, that is exactly what I was implying. I wrote this about three years ago, when I was going through a time of deep frustration with the lukewarmness I sensed in my church, and with professing Christianity in general. Hence, all the negativity and seething pessimism. I'm not in the spiritual condition to write something like this nowadays; my focus now is more on my own walk with Christ, and how I might gain a deeper knowledge of His holiness and excellence through daily obedience and study of the Word.

However, I could be more clear on that area you pointed out, Diane. I think I may edit it! Thanks, sister!

Brother Paul

I'm not in the spiritual condition to write something like this nowadays; my focus now is more on my own walk with Christ, and how I might gain a deeper knowledge of His holiness and excellence through daily obedience and study of the Word.

Paul, This sounds like me. I can understand the change in focus. Actually my writing used to be very negative because I was so focused on all the large-scale darkness in my society and church - it was so shocking to see when my blinders came off. I guess I’m still there somewhat, even if a lesser extent.

Like you, God has been calling me to focus on a personal level – my walk with him. After all, myself is the only area that I have any measure of responsibility and control over.

By the way, I just finished listening to a sermon by Edgar Parkyns in which he said, “There is more revival going on today than there ever has been in all of history.” (That was in the 80’s) How’s that for positive news!

Maybe if we look beyond our backyard, we’d have a different outlook.

Your post is like a big kick for me - to move me past the negativity.
Thanks!

Diane

Excellent.....

Would like to use this in my ministry and post elsewhere, giving full credit to you of course.

Would like to use this in my ministry and post elsewhere, giving full credit to you of course.

Brother, I am humbled that you would want to use something I wrote for fueling your ministry. Use it! I think I'll post it on my website, seeing the gracious favor it is receiving here on SI. Glory be to God!

Brother Paul

Father,
Help us all to grow in Love, Wisdom, and Knowledge of You.
Decreasing, so You will increase.
Let my life be a light to some soul.
God Bless you, Paul.
Nellie