Equipped Church Blogs

  Catharsis: The Hidden Dangers of Venting “The man who is master of his passions is reason’s slave.”  attributed to Cyril Connolly “Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry—why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills” William Shakespeare “If you wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it.”  Earl Wilson “Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can be only forgiven, not forgotten.”  Unknown “The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use.”  Washington Irving “Speech is silver, silence is golden.” Arabic Proverb “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”  Seneca “We are masters of the unsaid words,...

The Elusive Balance: Correctly Defining Love in the Church “Everyone wants to define love, but no one wishes to practice it.” Mwanandeke Kindembo “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” Matthew 22:36-40, ESV “Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamus amori.” Love conquers all things, so we too shall yield to love. Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, ESV      In a w...