The bad stopped playing “hide-n-seek;”
No longer does evil try to conceal itself;
Positioning itself through propaganda and marketing;
The worst of society has come out loud and clear,
But can we Start Finding the Good?
We step into the church hoping to find the pure, the just, and the holy;
We expect that Christians are actually acting like Christ.
But we find that the difference between the world and the church is a thin line,
We find too much of the world’s thinking has crept into the church.
So we’re left to wonder, is there any way we can Start Finding the Good?
We listen to the message hoping to hear good news;
Why does it seem like all we hear about is the bad news?
All we hear about is Nadab and Abihu struck down by God for offering “strange fire,”
Or Ananias and Sapphira facing a similar fate for lying to the Holy Spirt.
Why can’t we Start Finding the Good?
We’re told about two roads,
One leads to life and the other to death.
I don’t want to be on the road to death,
But why does the road to life feel like death?
Surely, one of the roads opens the way to Start Finding the Good?
My week is full of my own sin, failure, struggles, and hopelessness,
I can’t do the right because I keep doing the wrong.
I come to worship God in dreaming of discovering forgiveness and grace,
But when I awake, I am reminded of how God cannot love me.
I don’t know if I can ever Start Finding the Good.
They say the glass is half empty,
And the only thing you see at church is the bad.
But what if the glass could be half full?
Your eyes are suddenly opened to God’s work;|
And maybe we can Start Finding the Good.
Jesus never came to condemn you, me or the world;
We were doing a pretty good job of that on our own.
Jesus came to save you, me and the world,
He paid the price for all mankind for all time.
It makes me want to Start Finding the Good.
So here I am leaving this highway to hell forever,
Instead I am climbing the stairway to heaven.
And along this journey, I’ll stop magnifying or the bad, the negative, and anger.
I’ll no longer minimize the right, the positive and the love.
I’ll Start Finding the Good.
I’ll Start Finding the Good when I open God’s word,
Looking for God’s grace, mercy and steadfast loyalty.
I’ll Start Finding the Good when encountering God’s people,
Extending compassion, kindness, gentleness and goodness.|
I’ll Start Finding the Good.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)
This poem is an attempt at the “couplets” where the first and second lines are repeat themes. This was a common practice in Hebrew poetry. JAP