For Rowdy Christians Everywhere

by Dave Schultz

Descartes Revisited

  I am a man, fashioned in God’s image.

  Unless, therefore, I learn about the Lord,

  How shall I ever understand myself?

  Shall “man as mere particles” hold my trust,

  Or does our form suggest something greater?

  Surely Will and Reason imply a soul.

  What are the faculties possessed by this soul?

  Freedom to create and change an image;

  Curiosity which yearns for greater

  truths; Conscience, keeping the fear of the Lord;

  Logic, to judge which stories we should trust;

  Highness of mind to contemplate myself.

  What do I find if I think on myself?

  A transient being, a contingent soul--

  nothing lasting, in which all flesh could trust.

  And yet I exist--as though an image

  of the eternal office of our Lord:

  “That than which there can be nothing greater.”

  If indeed there is none who is greater,

  then God must exist! Or else I myself

  would exceed him, which cannot be! The Lord

  reigns forever, and must be the First Soul,

  who creates all others in His image.

  This makes sense to me, and compels my trust.

  But what of the fables in which men trust?

  The science which claims there is no greater

  God than chance? They err in their whole image

  of nature, by missing what I myself

  have learned to ask: Is there thought apart from soul?

  Could any life begin without the Lord?

  Once we admit the presence of the Lord

  We may commit our spirits to His trust,

  and fully learn the place of our own soul--

  bowed adoringly before One greater.

  For if I find God, then I find myself,

  who am molded daily to His image.

  I give up myself to be His image.

  My soul surrenders, yet becomes greater.

  I trust in no man--and so gain the Lord.