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Respectibility Versus Holiness
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By Connie Hinnen Cook
Other Poems by Connie Hinnen Cook


I clutched it to my bosom and I vowed we'd never part,
Though the Spirit dwelled within me, I had self-will in my heart.
I wooed vices that I treasured, attitudes that I held fast,
Though I claimed God was my Master, I still lived as in the past.

Oh, I knew the Christian "language" ~ I could fake it with the best,
I would don my "spiritual vestment" till I looked like all the rest.
I knew scripture upon scripture, I could quote it by the score,
But with all my spiritual know-how, I was living as before.

Sure, I fooled a lot of people, even fooled myself sometimes,
I could hide behind my talent, writing prose and making rhymes.
But when cards were on the table, when it came to push-or-shove,
Was my heart so full of scripture that it had no room for love?

If my faith were just examined, would I find it true to God?
Did I look to Him for self-worth, or was my faith a facade?
Was I more concerned with how I looked to others here below,
More concerned with reputation, earthly things and worldly show?

O, dear Lord, look deep inside me, bare the things I try to hide,
Rip out all my pompous nonsense, my self-righteousness and pride.
Take my stubborn willful attitudes, old vices that I nurse,
Blot out hates and hurts and hang-ups, and the complaints I rehearse.

Take this mask made of hypocrisy and make me look within,
Take my past filled with self-pleasure, Lord, and make me see its sin.
Like it says within the scripture, Father, make my spirit new,
So that I'll forget about myself and dwell on pleasing You.

--Connie

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto men." (Colossians 3:23, KJV)


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Submitted: Monday, July 22, 2002

Last Updated: Sunday, August 18, 2002

About the Poet
IN MEMORIAM I'm just a servant of the Lord that wants to magnify Him through poetry, and to cause others to focus on Him.


Other Poems by Connie Hinnen Cook


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