I am a Spirit…

This was written by my friend who is a non-believer and has encountered the hypocrisy of a handful of Christians.

—

Living Martyrs

You stand apart and declare yourselves
Martyred by a world who shows only hatred for you
When you were the ones who judged first:
You cast the first stones.
You are not hated for your righteousness or your faith
But the hypocrisy reflected in the judgement you bring on this world.

You preach of great love and compassion –
What love have you shown your fallen fellow man?
What compassion have you shown to the broken and disheartened?
Why do you judge with hatred the love between those you see unfit
When you speak of mercy that stems only from love,
Mercy you claim to be equally undeserving to receive?
Why do you confine yourselves to your majestic alters
Condemning the world for its selfishness and crying for its needs
When those who hurt most lack even the strength to knock upon your mighty doors?

Is it hatred for you because your words fall on deaf ears
And the world goes on pursuing the only dreams it understands?
If so, then is it not hatred for the world when you turn their pains into sins
And confine them to darkness with your lives the only light?

Are you really listening?

You declare yourselves a chosen people,
An elite ranking granted only by your birthright,
But you do not see the holocaust before your very eyes.
The world does not martyr you,
It is you who is divorcing yourselves from this world.

Each beating heart can only feel its own thrashing pain
And who but God above can truly hear the echoes of their cries?
Who are you to silence their pains and claim it the will of God?
What right do you have to declare their dreams unfit?

Perhaps you are not of this world,
But you are in this world
And while you are in this world you take and give
Just like those who you claim persecute you:
You take and give both the good and the bad.
You are no better.
Come off your pedestal.

Perhaps your debts have already been paid to God above,
But do you not owe your fellow man
The same acceptance you claim he denies you?

No more an eye for an eye,
But acceptance for acceptance,
Love for love,
And life for life.
Don’t strike those who were never going to strike you.

—

Wake up church. You are being persecuted for the wrong reasons. You are being persecuted for your hypocrisy, not your Christ-likeness.

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