Calvin Miller’s poem, “The Discipline of a Servant,” is a powerful and thought-provoking call to examine our own commitment to Christ:

I’m but a cash-card saint in celluloid.
Can I afford to call this Jesus, King?
I’d like to follow him and yet avoid
Cross lugging and a naked death.  I sing
Therefore to harmonize and think of all
I’ll eat when singing’s over with.  Born twice,
By hundreds, then, we gather at the mall
And bless the church, or clap, or criticize.

Grace by installment – total faith – and we
Can spot a bargain when there’s one in town –
The maximum of everything that’s free –
With nothing but the minimum paid down.

It makes his love so interest-free!  Not hard!
Like taking up your cross by Mastercard.

Calvin Miller, The Unfinished Soul (Nashville, TN:  Broadman & Holman)