Poem BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE 1 John 3

Behold what love, so vast, so free,
Has reached from heaven’s height to me;
That we, once lost in shadowed night,
Are called the children of the Light.
No earthly name nor honor given
Could raise a soul so near to heaven;
Yet here we stand, by grace made known,
As sons and daughters, not our own.

The world, unseeing, passes by,
It knows not truth, nor asks it why;
For it knew not the Holy One
When first appeared the Father’s Son.
And we, though now His children named,
Are not yet fully seen or framed;
But when He comes, as He is shown,
We shall be like Him, fully known.

And every heart that holds this plea
Is drawn to holy purity;
As one who longs with earnest sight
To stand unveiled before that Light.
For sin is not a trifling stain,
Nor lawlessness a thing of gain;
It strikes against the will divine,
A breach against the grand design.

He came to take our sins away,
To break their hold, to end their sway;
And in Him there is no disguise
Of darkness hidden from His eyes.
So he who dwells in Him will cease
From walking paths that war with peace;
For those who cling to sin’s domain
Have not beheld the Lamb once slain.

Let no deceiver twist the thread
Of truth so plainly, simply said;
The one who walks in righteous way
Reflects the Light of endless day.
But he whose life is shaped by sin
Shows where his roots have long been in;
For from the first, the evil one
Has worked against the Holy Son.

Yet for this cause the Christ appeared,
That works of darkness might be cleared;
To break the chains, undo the lie,
And lift the fallen soul on high.
The seed of God within the heart
Will not with sin consent to part;
For born of Him, the soul made new
Finds former paths no longer true.

And here the line is drawn so plain,
Between the loss and holy gain;
Who walks in love, in righteous flame,
Bears witness to the Father’s name.
But he who shuts his heart away
From love that should be shown each day,
Denies the mark, refuses sign,
That proves a life made new, divine.

For this the message, old yet clear,
Has sounded down from year to year:
That we should love, both true and deep,
Not wound, not hate, not rise to reap
The bitter fruit that Cain once bore,
Whose brother’s blood cried from the floor.
Such hatred springs from darker ground,
Where death and envy both are found.

But we have crossed from death to life,
Where love removes the inward strife;
For he who loves his brother well
Will never in death’s shadow dwell.
Yet he who hates, though still he breathes,
In death’s cold chamber yet he seethes;
No life abides where hate remains,
Only the echo of its chains.

By this we know what love has done:
He gave His life, the Holy One;
And we, who see that sacrifice,
Are called to yield in likewise.
Not only words upon the air,
But deeds that prove a heart laid bare;
For love must walk, not merely speak,
And lift the poor, uphold the weak.

And when our hearts would doubt or fail,
And hidden fears within prevail,
God stands above the inward strife,
The searching Judge, the Giver of life.
If conscience rests in truth and grace,
We find boldness before His face;
And what we ask, in Him aligned,
Is granted to the faithful mind.

And this command, both full and sure:
Believe the Son, in love endure;
Hold fast His name, both firm and bright,
And walk in love, in truth, in light.
For he who keeps this word so true
Finds God abiding ever new;
And by the Spirit, gently given,
We know our souls are joined to heaven.

BDD