Holiness!
The sound of it is music in my ears.
But
finding it is difficult for someone of my years.
The reason
is quite obvious. I’ve sought it from my youth.
But
most of my acquaintances, knew nothing about truth.
It started
as a little boy, with little tiny lies.
We
wanted to impress our friends; to look good in their eyes.
And so we
sort of stretched the facts. We did it for effect.
Until
the truth of what we said, our brains could not detect.
Why should
we stick with forty six when ninety six was more?
It
sounded better to our friends; a far, far better score!
“Cross my
heart and hope to die”, was what we always said.
But if
the Lord was “listening”, He would have struck us dead.
I’ve often
thought the gift of tongues, was given to control,
The
sort of rubbish that we spoke, which babbled from our souls.
For if the
Holy Spirit was “speaking” what we said,
I’m
sure we’d never tell a lie. That wasn’t Spirit led.
Of course
it’s just a theory; and though it sounds quite good,
We
wouldn’t be responsible; the Holy Spirit would!
Another sort
of pipe dream. The fact is it is me.
I have
to learn to speak the truth, that’s the reality.
And yet we
are not on our own, when Jesus is our Lord.
The
very thought of telling lies is utterly abhorred.
It leaves
us feeling dirty; we cannot tolerate,
The thought
of letting Jesus down; that’s hard to contemplate.
For when
the Lord is in our lives, the truth is paramount.
We open
up God’s Holy Word, which then becomes the fount,
Of how we
should be living. His truth becomes our guide.
This
brings a revolution, deep down in our inside.
We long to
be obedient. We long to go His way.
We
hunger and we search for Him, on each successive day.
We never
want to wander away from His commands.
We want
to make wise choices. We want to understand,
The way to
go to please Him! His counsel’s all we need!
And as
we start to listen, we’ll go where He may lead.
Then we’ll
be His disciples and we will know the truth.
Not
some abstract theory, discarded in our youth.
A friend
we can depend on and willingly obey.
The
Saviour who will set us free, in each and every way.
Jim Strickland – Written 16th November 2011
