The Present Is a Very Fleeting Lease...

The wheels of this poem have been turning for a bit;the first stanza from a book my sister gave me for my birthdaygave it the 'push' it needed... ...and everything that does not come from faith is sin. But hark! On dawn’s horizon mercies toll... The present is a very fleeting leaseYet, ever in the present we existFuture fuels present, then past’s increaseTime’s holy toll is futile to resistIt is easy to slip into sin’s snareIf we dash, unequipped, into its lair God, what folly godless desires areWorldly Want squanders OpportunityWhile leaping restlessly from star to starGoaded by nothing but sheer vanityThat deadens senses to a Mute ParadeDrawing the soul to where the Whole is weighed There is a grief no gladness can consoleTo reap a sorry harvest of regretBut hark! On dawn’s horizon mercies tollOh, pray that sorry sorrow will begetRepentance; it is not too late to fallUpon our knees and for redemption call There are two roads, and only two, oh GodOne leads to You, the other leads awayOne hones a howling thirst for fleeting laudThe other flaunts no guile to lure or swayNo pleasure to appeal to Sight’s demandYet pleasures evermore at Your right hand Once We were young, who now are growing oldThe Subtle Present rushes through our skinEre soon the corp’ral coffin will enfoldThe carriage Deathless Soul is dwelling inOh God, forbid we fall prey to a lieWhile the deceiver winks a cunning eye To ‘dare to be a Daniel’ in an ageThat scorns the Sov’reignty of One True GodTo fight on a Babylonian stageUnthwarted by superficial façadeIs not for faint-hearted Intention’s crackWith one hand on the plow while looking back I shudder at my sad, salt-pillared pastGod redeemed; Wisdom cries in mammon-ed streetsWhere Sodom and Gomorrah’s shadows castProof of patterns idolatry repeatsHow great the darkness devoid of God’s WordDisobedience prospers, undeterred Ah, pray that Present Generations heedThe signs prophets foretold about That DayWhen Judgment and Redemption intercedeSalvation’s Final Triumph on displayWithout your Word to be our Lamp and LightOh God, how futile is each war we fight Oh God, come quickly, oh God, wait, I prayWhere noise-embellished darkness roils and groansWhile your grace all-sufficient, waits to save;Argument and excuse never atonesGod, rend the veil that blinds perception's kenThe present is a fleeting lease. Amen © Janet Martin 2 Tim.3:1-5&14-17 BSBBut understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these! But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.