Streams of Comfort

I often find it hard to comprehend that the world is full of color and cannot truly be seen in just black and white. Both heroes and villains contain character flaws, and nothing is as perfect as it seems to be. But somehow we have hope now in Jesus, because he is making everything new. The current state of humanity is not permanent. This poem explores these ideas, and I hope reminds you that the current state of humanity is not permanent.

“Bang,”
I heard the shot before I saw the wound on your shoulder,
I was not prepared for the small streams of red to trickle down your arm,
With the bullet of my imperfection at its headwaters,
Even though I had seen similar sights many times.
It was pure luck that it missed your heart,
And I wish I could stop my humanity, my selfishness, from pulling the trigger,
And that selfish ambition and pride would only affect me as an individual,
But sin is an unforgiving revolver that stores them as bullets,
Always at the ready and prepared to shoot.
“Bang,”
I heard the shot before I felt the wound in my forearm,
A stream of red sprung forth that matched yours,
The bullet of your anger lodged in my arm,
That I knew had been aimed at my heart.
We were becoming mirror images of each other,
Paintings marred by red streaks of imperfection,
Both of us covered in faults.
I wish I could put blame on one of us,
But I realized that this might just be fate,
That all we can do as human beings is disfigure one another,
Until we are unrecognizable and become the walking dead,
Walking within the hell we create.
But after a few minutes something strange began to happen,
The throbbing pain in my forearm began to fade,
And with wide eyes I watched my bullet fall from your shoulder,
With the streams of red dissipating.
In that moment several truths from God came to my mind,
Wounds are not permanent,
They heal.
Pain is not permanent,
It fades away.
Sin is not permanent,
It has been overcome by Jesus.
So it seems forgiveness might truly be fate,
As we all have revolvers lodged in our hearts,
Aimed and ready to shoot,
But we all rely on God to cleanse and heal our wounds.