Beloved, Remember

Beloved: 

as you listen, 

remember

that you are

indeed

beloved.

 

Tell me —

how long has it been since you gazed upon the gospel?

Where have you fixed your eyes?

 

You put your hand to the plow,

but instead of pressing on,

you looked back,

and suddenly,

 

your glimpse of the gospel,

once clear,

is now faded, and foggy,

your familiarity turned to foolishness

and falsehood has turned your gaze.

 

Be careful, little ears

what you hear,

and eyes what you see,

for it is not what you say

but how you choose to live

that tells others who you are.

 

Beware, soul,

 

be aware that

if you lose Christ,

you lose everything.

 

Beware becoming uprooted,

unraveled,

unanchored,

tossed and driven by the winds of this world.

 

Beware the double death of these broken cisterns–

not only are they empty themselves,

but they will

drain you dry.

 

Beloved, ready yourselves

to remember the gospel of glory.

 

Keep guard over your very souls,

working not to earn your faith, but to preserve it,

with the assurance that it is God himself who

preserves and holds you fast.

 

Brothers, sisters,

remember what you already know:

a resurrected people

is a

remembering people.