I keep trying to get things right, but there’s no more penance to pay. It’s all been taken care of. I woke up the other morning with this phrase running through my head. ‘No more penance to pay’ What does this word ‘penance’ mean? Penance comes from the Latin […]
repentance
11 posts
What does perfect narcissism look like? We can see it in the evil of Satan. Quick answer: Satan displays all eleven traits of a perfect narcissist — from Isaiah 14’s boast “I will make myself like the Most High” to Luke 4’s temptation of Jesus with worldly glory and worship. […]
Our brains can keep reminding us. ‘My Sin is Ever Before Me’ writes the poet, but what if we had a purifier? It’s ever before me. It’s in my face. If there was a common theme, I get from many of those who email me it is the sense […]
We need a weight loss program for the heart, but we can’t do it alone, so a vicar steps in and declares, ‘You are forgiven. Be at peace.’ I could feel a kind of weight leave my body. I had carried this tension and held this stress for so long […]
We want a behavior change, but it doesn’t seem to happen. However, it will happen with many changes in the mind (repentance). We always notice significant behavior change, don’t we? Yet, people who change dramatically are often given the stage and a microphone to trumpet the difference. I remember as […]
To demand or expect forgiveness is one of the clearest signs of fake repentance. It is like a chess player trying to manipulate the board rather than an offender offering a true change of heart. Real repentance submits itself to the poetry of waiting, praying, and hoping—never coercion. They thought […]
Accepting the consequences is a repentant heart saying ‘Yes’ to what has been done, praying for mercy, and possibly discovering grace. A few years ago I was caught speeding. I was going too fast. The police officer pulled me over and asked if I knew what speed I was traveling. […]
We do something we regret and want to make amends for, but what about the heart. Come as a servant but don’t become a slave. I was working in a garden the other day when I accidentally knocked over a small pot plant. It toppled over and fell onto a […]
They were so caught up in themselves and their selfish desires that they got lost to the concerns of others. Without recognising the wealth of love around them, they were the prodigal, a child of abundance squandering it away. What drew them back was a memory of love, faint and small, […]
So why did you have me born? I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me! I wish I had never been born I wish I had never been born I wish I’d never lived—a stillborn, buried without ever having breathed. Isn’t it time to call it quits on […]