any Less

it’s easy to love Jesus, when you drive a brand new F-350 diesel,

while vacationing for the winter in Gulf Shores, Alabama,

living in your half million dollar RV,

taking charter bus trips to Biloxi,

for a night at the casinos,

easy when you live in middle-class America,

surrounded by all your healthy, happy children,

with your plump, giggling grandchildren,

your body free from pain, not twisted and grotesque,

from diseases like aids and cancer,

because you have health insurance and can afford

the best medical treatment available,

with all the specialists and tests money can buy;

yes, it is easy then;

not so easy, when you go through life worried and afraid,

worried about feeding your children,

worried about providing a shelter over their heads,

afraid of the lump growing on your child’s arm,

not knowing if it is serious or not,

because you have no health insurance to get it tested,

as you pray for the strength to get through one more day,

as you go to your low paying job,

where America’s elite treat you like a hired servant,

because they have money and drive diesel powered F-350s,

with ‘I Love Jesus’ on the front license plate,

and you don’t;

some day we will all be the same,

standing before a holy and righteous God,

and I wonder how they will answer then,

when they see themselves speaking with derision and disgust,

to the person working for minimum wage,

because their cheese was sliced a millimeter thicker than requested,

or because they had to wait more than 5 minutes in the checkout line,

I wonder who will be blessed then, I wonder if their diesel powered F-350s,

with the ‘I Love Jesus’ front license plates,

will mean anything then;

then He speaks to me;

reminding me that He walked this earth with nothing,

in spite of being the King to whom everything belongs,

that He endured humiliation and torment,

without ever once complaining or hating,

that even though He was the greatest,

He became the servant of many,

laying down His life for all,

paying a cost only He could pay,

doing the will of the Father,

despite the suffering and pain,

giving us the example that should be followed,

proving that He loves us all,

unconditionally and without favor,

even those who drive brand new F-350s,

with ‘I Love Jesus’ front license plates;

and He asks me;

“Is the servant greater than the Master?”

as I quietly, and humbly think to myself,

should I do any less?

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