Chains

Why do you still try to show Me your chains
Self-imposed
A desperate display of repentance?
Do you still not know
They are a choice
Not My hand against you?
Mortal, do you not see grace?
Do you still not understand
The power of My voice
The words of My decree–
You are free
And there are no conditions
No chains or prison doors
Mine is not like your world
I do not fear a criminal
I seek a child
A warrior, like Me
A peacemaker, an artist
A craftsman, a writer
A thinker, an actor
A lover, a friend
Like Me

You cannot live in chains
Not fully, not freely
And I have made you to be free
Take off your chains
I beg you
Your faults will hurt you deeper
When you cannot wear them away
With pageantry and eloquence
And narrative repentance
Believe Me
But, mortal, these are not the fix
To ease a dying conscience
Repentance is not an act
It is an acting again
A starting again
As a child unmarred
Do you still not understand?
This is faith like a child
Get up, and play
You have never sinned in My eyes
So act like it
You can tell Me later that you’re sorry
When the world doesn’t need My hands
And you’re drifting off to sleep
And there’s nothing more to do
But here is the secret nobody knows–
Eternity has no time for chains
There is too much to be done