I am part of a group
     to which I belong.
It is not for those others,
     for their lives are lived wrong.
I do take for granted
     all the good things I’ve got.
Don’t ask me to share them,
     of course I will not!
It is easy to think
     I deserve all these things.
Don’t blame me for their lack,
     they just got what life brings.

The good news of Jesus
     is for people like me.
To spread it much further,
     that just shouldn’t be.
I hope that you’re thinking
     as you’re reading this poem.
The lights may be on
     but there’s nobody home.
The truth is much different
     than these lines that I wrote.
Like it or not,
     we are in the same boat.

As you consider
     the way it might seem.
When put down on paper,
     this view is extreme.
But when you look deeper
     at the things that you do.
Could this type of thinking
     exist in you too?
If you think that can’t happen,
     then you’ll need to meet.
A good man named Peter
     and an animal filled sheet.

Peter was godly,
     he did what was right.
But there were some people
     that he kept out of sight.
They’re just not like us,
     I’m not being mean.
But we are God’s chosen
     and they are unclean.
So God spoke to Peter
     when he went to pray.
They’re all my creation,
     they’re clean if I say.

Peter did realize
     the message God sent.
When the “unclean” did call him
     he got up and he went.
To a man named Cornelius,
     he brought the good news.
To all who would seek Him,
     God gladly would choose.
The lesson forgotten
     again and again.
We all need God’s mercy
     when it comes to our sin.

Before you quit reading,
     dismissing all of this.
The message is for you,
     no one does it miss.
There’s only one reason
     you have a great hope.
It’s not that you’re so good,
     to that, God says nope.
Unmerited favor,
     this thing we call grace.
Yes, it is for you,
     and the whole human race.

So do you remember
     how this poem began?
To make you think, “crazy”,
     was part of the plan.
Sometimes our actions
     need to be put in print.
To see them more clearly,
     or at least get a hint.
So when you see others
     you think don’t belong.
Remember God’s mercy
     and admit you are wrong.
©

As I was spending time with God praying and going through Acts 11 for a sermon I plan to share tomorrow, this poem appeared in my mind. I pray that God uses it as He chooses and that each of us would notice the people that we have a tendency to ignore and that we would choose to find ways to share Jesus with them instead.

In Prayer,
Tom