bible and theology on Mixed-Motives

“His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too.”

Pride is a by-product of insecurity. And the more insecure a person is, the more monuments they need to build. There is a fine line between 'Thy kingdom come' and 'my kingdom come.' If...

In U2’s song “One,” Bono sings, “Have you come here to play Jesus / To the lepers in your head?”2 Yes, if you are involved in justice work, you probably have. So have I. This isn’t bad. Just honest. W...

When we observe evil, sinful behavior from a distance, the inclination is simply to see people as acting with malicious intent. We assume they are “bad people.” But often the motivations that lead to ...

Many deceptions only appeal to us because there is something inside us that "wants" to believe them. They are seductive because of darkness and wrong motives in our own lives. We must search...

The motive of grace is the infinite, compassionate love of a merciful God, but the work of grace was the death of Christ on the cross.

If I were making a list of benefits like the one Mike McKinley imagines, only this time using the devil’s actual logic, it might look more like this: Experience the excitement of new romance. Get th...

Hell is full of good intentions or desires.

In this excellent little character study, Tolstoy describes the inner monologue of the character Pierre Bezuhov from War & Peace , who is able to justify and convince himself that a promise made ...

The drive to possess is an engine for hurry.

The basic human drive is the desire for the Good.

The devil may also make use of morality.

Many people live righteously for selfish or misguided reasons. If you are striving to please God, examine your motives today.

Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.

There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as 'moral indignation,' which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue."

A predominant characteristic . . . of the behavior of those I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach...

Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.

Good and evil increase at compound interest. That's why the little decisions we make every day are of infinite importance.

Contradictions can bring us into touch with a deeper longing, for the fulfillment of a desire that lives beneath all desires and that only God can satisfy. Contradictions, thus understood, create the ...

I need to have a reason why I'm doing something. Otherwise I'm lost.

“Moral”…is an orientation toward understandings about what is right and wrong, just and unjust, that are not established by our own actual desires or preferences but instead are believed to exist apar...

These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Seco...

Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.

The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews.

My suspicion is that we have simply lost our way. I suspect that our material longings are more largely formed by our culture than by the Christ and that our spending habits do not differ radically fr...

I find it hard to be at rest and ambitious at the same time.

It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Dear Everybody, We have a serious problem: All of us think we’re good people. But Jesus says we’re not. Sincerely, Brant P. Hansen …PS. IF YOU THINK I’M WRONG—about how we think we’re good people...

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.