#temptation

When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted friendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. ↗

— Oswald Chambers

#suffering #temptation #friendship

People couldn't become truly holy, he said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#good-and-evil #temptation #wickedness #opportunity

Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody." ... [My dark side says,] I am no good... I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence. ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#christianity #faith #feelings #identity #rejection

Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#doctrine #ethics #law #morality #principles

Arthur Dent: What happens if I press this button? Ford Prefect: I wouldn't- Arthur Dent: Oh. Ford Prefect: What happened? Arthur Dent: A sign lit up, saying 'Please do not press this button again. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#play

My head spins as I glance away, refusing to get sucked back into his gaze when so much is at risk. ↗

— Emily Giffin

#love

I think when you're trying to produce a relationship on screen that doesn't actually exist, perhaps sometimes there's a temptation to look at each other more, to touch each other more. ↗

— Paul Bettany

#each #exist #i #i think #look

Temptation to behave is terrible. ↗

— Bertolt Brecht

#temptation #terrible

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#country #good #temptations

Let's remember the children who come from broken homes, surrounded by crime, drugs, temptation, their peers having babies out of wedlock, but who still manage to get a good education despite the many obstacles they face every day. ↗

— Armstrong Williams

#broken #children #come #crime #day