Lyrical Theology

Reflections

A Lyrical Theology by Thaydo Tebogo Mabina 

I am bitterly and deeply saddened by the shallowness and wickedness of people's perceptions

Because they speak boldly as though they know truth from its inception

They claim to be called of God but they experiment with new heresies

I know if someone were to challenge this falsehood, they're gonna be labeled a Pharisee

God calls us to preach the Gospel of the cross

While the motivational preachers satiate hearers for money and applause

They cover up man's fallenness with "low self-esteem" as a substitute

"Everything is about you" they're told, and this is actually what they constitute

The VIP's in the church are not to be confronted with the truth of Scripture about their sin

Even bouncers at the club don't trip over those who abundantly give

But they don't realize that "I" is in the middle of sin and pride, and at the beginning of Idolatry

The advocates of this Psychological Christianity don't understand that they're playing with people's lives

There's a cause greater than earthly riches that reaches to a timeless dimension called Eternity

A dimension created and ruled by the divine, sovereign, holy Trinity

Being Christian means dying to self and taking up the life of Christ

Once you do, you realize that the silver, gold and the pride of this life will never suffice

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross."

These are the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew 16:24

I was told many times not to let myself be controlled by insecurities

They said I should look at myself through the eyes of Him who created me

I should be more secure, because I'm made in the Imago Dei

They couldn't help correct my fractured perspective with the words they used to say

They never said I was a sinner and that God couldn't stand to behold me

Habakkuk 1:13 says God doesn't look upon evil because His eyes are too Holy

 Most of my Christian experience was built on the premise that I could do anything I put my mind to

I'd inquire about Jesus, but anything I say they'd most probably misconstrue

Self-actualization is the goal and Jesus is merely a moral precept

I knew a little too much to the point where I began to feel like a societal reject

I felt lonely and weary of standing in opposition to the masses

I thought if I moved along with the current I'd gain special favour with the pastors

But I couldn't see that the path I was on is one that leads to disaster

How stupid of me to believe that we all need to hear sweet words, because we're living in a bitter world

They spoke soft words that tickled my ears but deprived my soul of hearing the greatest story:

The suffering of Jesus Christ and His subsequent glory

I was deceived to believe that I am entitled to receive everything that is good

But when I heard the truth I felt so ashamed, so depraved and enslaved to the hate I've harboured

I was dead in the grave of sin with transgression as my tombstone and I wasn't even bothered

When it came to right and wrong I couldn't even tell the difference

My foolishness became bliss and gave birth to little Ignorance

My conscience was so scarred and numb that I couldn't feel God's conviction

So marred was my perspective before I was shown my heart's condition

I was diagnosed with false religion called "SELF-ISM" which is diametrically opposed to the Scriptural truth of human depravity

Trying to defy gravity leads us to lose our sanity, with our hearts chasing vanities that come with the doctrines of self-conceit, nicely wrapped in a bow called self-esteem

I detest such doctrine, because I believe in Amazing Grace like John Newton

Mercy saved my soul and I seek to tell the truth, the whole truth and not be highfalutin

The underlying non-verbalized attitude of this teaching is this:

"who needs salvation from sin as a solution when the basic problem is low self-esteem?"

Thus Jesus is painted as a "friend" we can talk to and not as the Saviour who came to redeem

I believe the Bible to be the greatest and most thoroughly documented work of all antiquity

If this is true, then any humanistic centred doctrine implies that the Bible was written inadvertently

When you're impregnated with all kinds of falsehood, it's impossible to conceive anything that is of the truth

Self-ism needs to be condemned because it's non-divine topically

Christians have gone far beyond the line with their secular philosophies

I'll keep speaking truth even when ridicule and persecution become my daily reality

Christians will fall in love with grace when they understand the truth of human depravity

I pray that you walk with Christ and never become weary

And please pray for me that I never forget what I believe in

I'll always contend for the faith for sake of the elect

I do it out of conviction and not for your respect

I don't have a death wish but I'd rather you hand me over to be at the mercy of an angry mob

Than for me to die in my sin and fall into the hands of a Holy God