Enjoy, Beloved, Enjoy!
God has graciously given us a Body, the church, with many parts and a variety of gifts meant to serve and love each other. Today, we get to experience two chapters in Enjoy (relationships and art) on display through the creative and Christ-centered poetry of my friend, Isaac Adams, for our benefit and enjoyment.
This spoken-word poem is inspired by the contents found in the pages of Enjoy. I’m so grateful for Isaac’s words, his heart for others, and that he would create this piece. You can read the words and listen here:
“Enjoy, Beloved, Enjoy!”
One poem. Four desires.
I want you to enjoy God,
I want you to enjoy this poem.
I want you to enjoy God because of this poem.
I want you to FOUR a second use your imagination,
But not like John Lennon. No Beatles.
And if I can impose even more, pry open your mental door:
I don’t want you to use your imagination to picture
God in the highest station because though it is wonderful,
when it comes to elevation I think we Christians by and large got that; this fact:
that God is high and we are low, and all ye creatures here below are here…below a holy, righteously wrathful God; I think we got that.
But have you ever thought that God is heavy-handed even with sinners he graciously planned to pluck out of his own angry hands?
Jonathan Edwards, I must confess I’ve thought that.
So if you’re like me, pray for your imagination to start sanctifying what the Scripture’s already lay out indicatively to be the case; yeah God: heavy-handed? If you’ve thought that, put the holy imaginative bullet in your cerebral chamber and cock back and let the trigger send a bullet fast into that burdensome thought.
And after the click, click, bang and in the silence..shhh…hit pause.
And imagine the freedom, Christ’s light, happy burden. Imagine the fact, that:
God wants you to enjoy him and his gifts.
Imagine if: every day for the Christian was Christmas,
Imagine this: good news that is prosperity-“gospel”-less,
Enjoyment doesn’t belong to T.D Jakes for goodness sakes,
God wants us to enjoy cake even when it’s not our
Birthdays; The dumping rain on our worst days,
the 5k race, sweaty in the face, even if we don’t get first place.
Sex in the confines of marriage,
like a diamond in the prongs of a ring shining bright;
like fire in a fire-place—a good, warming gift that can brighten a loveless night,
Oh beloved, imagine if we didn’t have to
convince God or ourselves that it’s OK to enjoy life?
Who knew: This is good news that we don’t have to cram God into;
Beloved, In Christ, we are free to abandon our man-made rules
and self-imposed guilt and because of the blood he spilt
our happiness is becoming whole because by his grace
we are becoming holy. Two sides one coin; Can I get an amen?
Praise the Lord we can now be well skilled in
the mystery of godly contentment:
What Mr. Burroughs called: Our Christian duty, glory, and excellence.
Oh beloved for your enjoyment
consider the seas and the firmament;
All gifts that reflect our big, gracious God,
Who wants our happiness to be so much more than
just a façade, and here is the rub, that simply…tickles me,
I want you to listen more closely than Eve did to the serpent’s trickery
Because the rub holds more treasures than the cave Aladdin dove into,
open sesame, take up and see Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 reads:
that God can do immeasurably more than we could ask, imagine, or believe,
And, beloved, what he chooses to give us is infinitely
better than what we think we want or need,
like getting divinely woven clothes instead of fig leaves,
peep Genesis 3. But for now I’m out of time.
Yeah, I know I asked you for a second,
and I won’t ask you for thirds because you’ve patiently endured
four desires expressed by a poet simply enjoying his gifts.
So even if you didn’t enjoy this poem,
Let me close by simply asking you this:
What in your life are you enjoying?
And what does that say about the Giver?
Merry Christmas.
lovingly caputred by Sarah Danaher (Ampersand Photography, © 2012)
More about Isaac:
Isaac Adams (B.A. Journalism, Religious Studies: UNC-Chapel Hill) is a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C., and he’s currently finishing his M. Div The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has worked to serve the efforts of Together for the Gospel, CROSS, and The Front Porch, and he’s contributed to Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, and 9Marks. He’s written and performed spoken-word poetry for churches and conferences, and he and his wife, Megan, are expecting their first child!
(Learn more about Trillia’s new book Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God’s Good Gifts)
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