Dichotomy

When life deals me a blow, especially at the hands of another person, I can feel grief, or I can feel aggrieved. It’s always my choice. I can grieve, or I can create a grievance.

By feeling grief, I choose to be hurt; to be aggrieved, I choose to hurt myself further. Grief leads to freedom; a grievance, to bondage.

When I allow myself to be hurt, God can help me work through the pain and, in the end, release it to Him. I find Him in that pain, and then He leads me out of it.

When I perch atop a grievance, a resentment, I tell God: ‘This is more important that the forgiveness You offer to help me with.’

Grief is a sadness, a product of compassion. I grieve because people can be wicked, thoughtless and selfish. They can knowingly or unknowingly hurt me.

Grievance, on the other hand, is a product of pride, which feeds my own selfishness in response to that of others. Should their choice to be selfish give me the right to choose selfishness as well?

Compassion always leads me toward forgiveness. Grievance always hardens a heart, even a soft one.

Where does my heart rest today? Always between the extremes in the moment of hurt, but it must ultimately move one way or the other.

If I’m to have peace, and move forward, my heart must come to rest (and will have rest), in Jesus. He’s my only source of rest. So I grieve, and find peace.

“Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.” (Ephesians 4:26-27 MSG)

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32)

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Church Thoughts

There is no epidemic of misinformation as we’ve been told; rather a burden of myth-information.

As a result, many of my friends in the Church of England suffer from Anglicanxiety.

There are two sides to their coin: There’s the lie that says they aren’t good enough, when the truth is they’re not good enough. See Romans 1. Then read through to Romans 5.

Those of us in the C of E must take risks. Risk allows us to take good theology and put it into practice. What’s happening now isn’t risk. It’s capitulation to worldly doctrine.

It’s time again to make righteous agreements on the spiritual trading floor. Whose salvation do we proclaim? Is it God’s? Or is it ours?

Jesus said ‘preach on the housetops’. Are we? Or are we trapped inside our stone coffins, waiting for people to join us in death?

Blessed are the hungry for they will be filled. Whoever they are and wherever they are.

Some of us proclaim something else from the rooftops and it’s not the gospel: it’s that we’re a ‘welcoming church.’

That phrase is redundant.

The fellowship of Jesus Christ is universally and altogether welcoming because He is welcoming. His arms were held open on the cross to underscore His invitation to salvation.

He meant that for everyone, with no one singled out. No special categories. God ‘shows no favoritism’ 1 and has told us we ‘should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.’ 2

Thus, to say we are ‘welcoming’ for particular categories of people, is actually to deconstruct the gospel. Using a human qualified greeting replaces Christ’s divine unqualified greeting, which is fully and completely outlined in scripture.

‘Welcoming’ churches fly a rainbow flag, with six colors (for human Pride) instead of seven (for God’s covenant with us). This shows a church’s true colors. Yes, they worship something, but it’s not Christ. They are full of something, but I fear it’s not Holy Spirit.

This type of qualified ‘welcoming’ lets people know they are gathering with people who won’t challenge sin. Such gatherings can begin a one-way ride directly out of God’s kingdom.

The gospel challenges sin, because Jesus challenges sin. See Romans 1. Then read through to Romans 5. Then decide where your church stands. If it doesn’t line up with what you just read in scripture, run for your eternal life.

If you aren’t sometimes offended by the message you hear in church, then it’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like it or lump it. God has His standards. And we won’t change them; we can only abandon them if we choose not to embrace them.

Blessed are the hungry for they will be filled. Whoever they are and wherever they are.


1.Acts 10:34 (NLT)
2. Acts 10:37 (NL

Image by Mike Bird via Pexels

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Personal Cancel Culture

(A two minute read)

Simple actions can have long-lasting consequences.

The pond-ripple of the tossed stone has the power to turn back time, change the costume, clean the window.

Last month I moved all my online subscriptions (paid and unpaid) to separate inboxes. It was a ten-hour project to get it all done. But it was important; a thought experiment with dividends.

I inferred some of those in the poem A Full Mind is an Empty Mind. Read it; you’ll get the gist.

Here’s a report from the Battlefield of the Mind. My special inboxes now contain 102 items, all unread. This is a victory song.

I’ll say that again: All unread.

What’s more, every time I’ve tried to work through them I’ve stopped. It turns out I’m really not that interested in them after all. Another few weeks and I’ll arrange to have them simply stop coming.

I’ll sing a victory song as my bridges burn. I’m reconsidering some of my values.

For freedom, I have been set free. 1

One simple change in my environment directly changed my behavior. Yes – it’s my own version of cancel culture.


1. Galatians 5:1 – ‘For freedom, Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.’