M. K. Nawojski
1 April 2003
Does it matter, you ask, if you bend just a bit
The truth you've received from God's Word?
(For if you're too narrow and strain at "details"
The work won't go forward . . . you've heard.)
Does it matter if you, to promote fellowship,
Let a couple of principles slide?
And to cinch your acceptance with just the right crowd,
A few "minor" doctrines you hide?
I'll leave that for you to decide for yourself,
But I'm hoping that - before you do! -
You'll remember the price that was paid to preserve
The truth of the gospel for you.
This truth that was hid before God made the world,
Then given to Paul to make known:
That we, in Christ Jesus, should be fellowheirs
And sit on the Father's own throne.
This truth that the Body must safeguard and keep -
Seven "One's" clearly taught in God's Word:
One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, and One Faith,
And One Father God, and One Lord,
One Baptism wrought by the Spirit's own hand,
Not by layman nor preacher nor priest! -
Only thus must we follow our glorified Head,
Only thus will He grant us true peace.
Let's recall then (if tempted to alter the truth
In the interest of "getting along"!)
That our time on the earth is remarkably short
... But eternity's real and it's long.
Let's determine, like Paul, to be true to the One
Who laid down His life on the tree
To ransom - not good men nor righteous nor just! -
But vile, rotten sinners like me.
Let us purpose, like Paul, to press toward the mark
For the prize of the high call of God
In Jesus our Lord - let us finish the course
That all true believers have trod.
Let us gladly unite, in the Body of Christ,
With the foolish, the weak, the despised -
With those that the world calls "fanatic" ... "extreme" ...
but God in His wisdom makes wise.
Let's be ready to rise - maybe soon! - at the Shout
To triumph with "armor" and "sword,"
To seize, as One Body, our excellent prize,
To reign evermore with our Lord.
-- M. K. Nawojski, 1 April 2003