Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

Your Sins Are Forgiven

I wonder whether Jesus worried
about evil as much as we do.
He and Bob Marley both told us
not to worry at all.
Real sin is whatever
takes my mind off God.
At every opportunity
I confess my heart out
about the other, unimportant sin,
and despite ample portions
of ecclesiastical forgiveness
I still drag a heavy bag
of guilt along behind me.
What if I concentrated
on some tiny virtue hidden
under the ways I misuse my time?
I might find within
my own miniature goodness
a seed trying to sprout,
trying to make within me
something friendly, something
like the good gifts of God
which permeate each day.

[The Covenant Journal, Number 26, September 2007 All poetry in this issue is by Robert Cogswell.]