Christ or the Cruel

“Remove from me the way of lying… enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:29,32).  “Hear Me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of My mouth…. lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel” (Proverbs 5:7,9).  “There came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head… And Jesus said… she hath wrought a good work on Me… She hath done what she could… but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!  Good were it for that man if he had never been born” (Mark 14:3-8,21).

There is a choice that we must make

Between surrender to the Christ
Or to the cruel (the BIG mistake
When souls by sin have been enticed). 

Removing now the way of lying

Requires washing from God’s Word
As God Himself is testifying
And we discern what we have heard.

There really is no “neutral” zone;

We’re for the Lord, or we are not.
We either live for Christ alone,
Or waste our life on things that rot. 

We’ll give our heart to Jesus Christ,

Or we shall give it to the cruel. 
Remember who was sacrificed,
And then decide which One should rule.

Portrayals in God’s Word afford

Examples of this illustrated
By those who surely loved our Lord
And those by whom our Lord was hated.

Our Lord declared the work was good

When Mary poured out her perfume,
For she had done then what she could
Before her Lord was in the tomb. 

The contrast here is surely grim

In Judas who betrayed with scorn
The Savior who would die for him;
Far better that he’d not been born!

We thank You, Lord, for Your decision

To pay that price upon the cross
Because You saw our cruel prison
And prospect of our endless loss!

O Lord, You took the cruelty

Upon the cross that we deserved! 
You knew how awful it would be,
Yet from Your purpose never swerved. 

Lord, give us vision that is right;

Enlarge our heart with true surrender!
Invade cruel darkness with Your light
To show You are the soul’s Defender!