The Wanderer in the Valley of Vision [Christian Poetry] (Full Manuscript)

There is very little difference between You and Me

Though you are lost and in sin
I write, "Dear Beloved Soul"
For I would speak of my provision
Of the One who made me whole

Dear Beloved Soul
Bound in captivity
I tell you the truth, the Savior's truth
There is little difference between you and me

I did not cease being human
When I became Christ's
Though I may act or seem otherwise
I still am weak and I still have pride

To be dishonest, I do not mean
To come off so prim and clean
I still can catch sin and this world's disease
There is very little difference between you and me

Before I was saved, I thought I could
Keep myself saved by what l did good
But my faith was banked on my works alone
And my trust in self could not atone

My Flesh, God revealed as my Enemy
No longer to be bound to its captivity
Then Hell burned with cruel jealousy
And from the strife of sin I was never free

A deceiving friend, now revealed is his goal
My Flesh ever seeks to muffle and overthrow
Just because, by grace, I am Christ's
Does not mean I am free of the struggle and strife

Forgive me for my mask
And my shameful Pharisaism
From which I discourage or deceive
And return to my old prison

But this time, I whitewash this dungeon hold
That by this mask you would not see my struggling soul
For if you should see my strength fail in upholding the spoken truth
You would see there is very little difference between me and you

And if I live by this act, then my gospel has failed
For surely it is my own; a blind and hindering veil
And all the more do I prove by such hypocrisy
I am a sinner like (and perhaps worse) than thee

So I will speak the truth, Christ's truth
I am ever prone to sin's sickness like you
And because I believe Him to be the cure to redeem
This becomes the only difference between you and me

God has revealed and we have seen
All men have fallen and all are in need
All still strive or surrender to sin's disease
It's a battle none escape unscathed or stain-free

Only one thing divides and makes a distinction between us
In all other ways we are the same; we are weak and we are dust
The difference is that I go to Christ as my cure
I fall again and again; and again be made pure
Will you not go to Him, my fellow sinner and friend?

You have no reason to despise or despair
That I have escaped death's bed or the condemned's chair
(It is by grace)
Not only in this world's pain and the heart-struggle I'm aware
But more familiar and fulfilled, the Man of Sorrows' shares

So I draw this letter to a close
Written in transparency and hope
I am a fellow sinner, healed and redeemed
Pointing you to the One who you and I both need
The only One who can cure you and I from sin's constant disease
And whose blood can fulfill this vital difference between you and me

Sincerely,
Your Neighbor, a Redeemed Sinner

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"Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands." ~Job 34:19

"But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you..." ~Acts 14:14‭-15a