November 4, 1996

once again i prove my mortality

how is it that i can do over and over and over

what God must not desire

i am embarrassed

ashamed

remorseful

and repentant (for now)

but time has proved

over and over and over

that this curse is greater than i

or is it that i seek to be o'erwhelmed

by that which i desire

a frantic change of thought

to preserve an innocence that never was

"For all have sinned and fallen short

of the glory of God"

"But the gift of God is eternal life

in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

so then

it is i that sin

and my mind allows it

but i desire the greater thing

God

may His forgiveness and love

claim even me

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:21-24)

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:21-23)