Five sonnets on Micah 6: (2) Ways and Means

How can man know if he has passed the test ?
For some have works and others sacrifice,
Some are ascetics, others pay a price;
And which, if any, might well be the best?
How sad to think one's whole life could be spent
In chasing after what has no reward,
Or spending that which one can ill-afford;
Then heaven's lost, albeit with good intent.
But God demands a perfect holiness;
A way of life where everyone falls short
For no-one has a life lived as he ought
As even in the best is ugliness.
Now God has shown the standards He requires,
But earthly man has failed with his desires.

This poem won second place for the February 2018 poetry contest