Woe to the man who cannot perceive beyond himself.
Who sees another starving brother and shuns him.
His hunger may look different, but both are in need.
Man craves control; his brother, justice.
Justice has become nothing more than political will.
Man has lost who he is in the erasing of who he was.
And in this losing, all are lost.
Nothing is anchored upon an unmoored foundation.
True to his bent, man shapes lies.
Yet, to speak against untruth is to be dismissed or, worse, expunged.
The agitated eventually become the agitators.
Protests become wars.
Victories are decided by who is left standing.
Yet, to stand in pride is worse than to die fighting for peace.
There is no winner when the will of man is exercised outside of God.
Egotism is a fat bigot hiding his brother in the plump of its shadow.
Still, glimmers shiver in the cold phantom of justice.
These are brothers – our brothers – who reflect the light of God.
Tethered to God’s Word, truth is their freedom.
Vengence is mine, saith the Lord.
Justification is the butcher of repentance.
Man gnashes his teeth on the gristle of sin.
His starving brother sees man for who he is:
A beggar cloaked as an idol.
Justice delayed is justice denied, says all.
Yet, delay offers forgetfulness to man.
And if no one remembers, who can claim afoul?
The brother becomes scarred; the man becomes calloused.
Man fears scars, seeing them as leprous lesions.
Not wanting to be affected, man blinds himself.
Scales are tipped by man’s lack of accountability.
And justice truly becomes blind.
Woe to the man who feels entitled to the respect of his brother.
For brother found man blind and helped him to stand.
Yet, man shouts victory in his darkness.
But who truly lives in the shadows?
Faith is a mystery to a blinded spirit.
And man despises what he cannot understand.
Selfishness is a wicked gavel.
And its verdicts render destruction.
Joy to the brother who basks in God’s fullness.
Who perseveres, repurposing scars into testimonies.
Blessed is the brother who speaks truth in love.
And comes alongside others with heart and hands prepared to serve.
Grateful is the brother who does not need eyes to witness God’s glory.
He is reborn into eternal life, firmly grounded upon God’s foundation.
Upon this rock, all else crumbles.
And the gavel of selfishness turns to glass.
This column was initially published by CherryRoad Media. ©Tiffany Kaye Chartier.
