Jack Pelham

I just heard a particularly mindless quote on Christian radio. It went something like this (best I remember):

“The point of Christianity is neither in self-improvement nor gaining knowledge, but in Christ-likeness.”

Source Forgotten

You are not done
Finding out the
Many great things
That can be found out
From the Bible.

But I should tell you
That some will want you
To have the impression
That you are, so as to
To keep you from digging further—
Where you will discover that
They don’t know what they’re talking about
And that you didn’t, either.To have that impression, so as to
To keep you from digging further—
Where you will discover that
They don’t know what they’re talking about
And that you didn’t, either.

When the worries of this world
Have grown too strong and woe’s unfurled
And drives me from my normal place
In search of some relief,

He’s got a burr under his saddle,
And it makes him grumpy by himself
And with the other horses.

They go after something that is not for them
While neglecting something that is.
So they come up short.
Twice.

Once he decided to forgive her incorrigible sins—
For conviction that such is the right mind
To have about one’s fellow human—
He quickly found himself quite
Disinterested in rehearsing
The lot of them any
Longer with his
Confidants,
For there
Was
No
Point in it.

God forbid that Jesus should ever adopt any
Non-negotiable opinion about some matter of religion,
For if he did, how could he possibly be the all-accepting sponsor
To all the disagreeing camps who insist on calling themselves his own?

If no one were afraid
To tell a friend the truth
We could all be blessed by it—
Except, of course
That not many always
Consider the truth to be
A blessing.

She gives in buckets—
Pouring herself out daily
Even though she totally
Knows the routine by now—
That when he gives
It’s usually with an eyedropper,
And even then, it’s
Only when he finds it
Strategically necessary.

And he does his best
Not to think anything
Of the huge difference
Between them,
For if he did,
It might prick his conscience.
And that, he thinks,
Must be avoided
At all costs.

And she does her best
Not to think anything
Of the huge difference
Between them,
For if she did,
It might tweak her pride.
And that, she thinks,
Must be avoided
At all costs.

So she still gives in buckets.

And I cannot help
But to compare them both
To myself.
And I am in between
And deeply convicted
That I do not
Give in buckets
More often.

NOTE: He routinely decouples from his conscience, while she routinely decouples from her pride. It is a fundamental difference in paradigms.

What is yours
Is not.

Not really.

At some point
You have to let it all go
And settle accounts
With the owner
Of all things.