God himself wrote poetry. It’s found in the Psalms and woven throughout the Scripture, and we can reflect his image in our own creativity. Lydia Kinne’s poetic meditations from 1 John encourage us to take time over God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to work it into our hearts, bringing out creative responses of praise, prayer, thanksgiving, and joy!
God –
You made eternity visible –
And they reached out
And touched it.
God –
You made Your Word
Alive in the person of Your Son –
And they heard it.
Eyewitnesses –
Testimonies –
Proclamations –
Evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt –
All this to say
In a world of skepticism and doubt –
We can trust this One –
For truth is wrapped up
In all fibers of His being.
And when we believe it,
We tiptoe into the throne room of God
Where trinitarian fellowship
Is on full display.
And when we speak it
To fellow believers,
We ourselves reveal the face
Of the Triune God to one another.
Echoes of eternity
Ring in our hearts
And the nature of God
Spills into our lives.
And in this unmatched place of
Beauty – eternal joy springs forth –
Such that we’ve never known,
And never will know anywhere else.
The world seems to offer
Beautiful solutions
To all our longings and desires –
Gleaming in their allure.
Sex, stuff, and self –
All of these consume our culture,
And they claim they will
Make you exceedingly happy.
All the pretty things that line the shelves,
All the pretty faces that beckon our hearts,
All the pretty “self-love” that fills social media –
All temporarily satisfying –
All eternally damning.
John says to beware of these lies
Because they are deadly in their deceit
And insidious in their creeping clutches,
Luring us in with fine-sounding promises.
The more one cultivates a love for the world,
The more one falls prey to its “wisdom,”
And the farther away from God he moves –
Away from truth and eternal justice.
Rather, let us instead cultivate love for Christ –
Dwelling on his Word, lingering in prayer,
Allowing the Holy Spirit to open our eyes
To lies and deception and false hopes.
The more we do, the more we’ll abide
In the safe, secure, satisfying rest
Promised in part here on earth
And forevermore in heaven with Christ.
Love is the core and the crux
Of the believer’s salvation
And of their daily lives
Lived in relation to others.
When the Father’s love
In sending his only Son
To take on our sins
And experience his wrath
So that we could become his children –
When that love is fully
Known and believed in
One’s heart –
It overwhelms and overflows.
It overwhelms with a flood
Of reassurance and confidence –
Knowing we are safe for all eternity.
No wrath to fear
Or punishment to endure –
Just security in the mature
Knowledge of God’s unending love.
And it overflows with tangible grace –
Showing glimpses of the unseen God
To a hungry, longing world.
We cannot help but speak and live out
This transformational kind of love.
If we aren’t motivated to love,
Or we actively live out hatred to others –
Perhaps our hearts were never changed
In the first place.
Let us not live out a lie
Of claiming love for God
And harboring bitterness to a brother –
For this stains the name of redemption.
Rather, let us live out
The beauty of love given from God –
A costly salvation given freely to us
And meant to be shared with a waiting world.
Lydia is a teacher, poet, and blogger, who serves various ministries here at Faith. You can read more of her writing and subscribe to her blog at lydiakinne.com.
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