{"id":46341,"date":"2007-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/christians-struggle-with-opposing-desires\/"},"modified":"2007-02-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:50:25","slug":"christians-struggle-with-opposing-desires","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/christians-struggle-with-opposing-desires\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians Struggle with Opposing Desires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We want to be a saint, but we also want to feel every sensation experienced by sinners; we want to be innocent and pure, but we also want to be experienced and taste all of life; we want to serve the poor and have a simple lifestyle, but we also want all the comforts of the rich; we want to have the depth afforded by solitude, but we also do not want to miss anything; we want to pray, but we also want to watch television, read, talk to friends, and go out.<\/p>\n\n<p>It&#39;s a small wonder that life is often a trying enterprise, and that we are often tired and pathologically overextended.<\/p>\n\n<p>&mdash;Ronald Rolheiser, president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[440],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3423,3429,3469,3535,3572,3653,3764,3765,3808,3826,3834,3869,4181,4199,4408,4527,4925,4934,5134,5160,5226,5231,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-46341","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-apathy","tax_ctp_tags-appetites","tax_ctp_tags-backsliding","tax_ctp_tags-busyness","tax_ctp_tags-choice","tax_ctp_tags-compromise","tax_ctp_tags-desert","tax_ctp_tags-desire","tax_ctp_tags-distractions","tax_ctp_tags-double-mindedness","tax_ctp_tags-dying-to-sin","tax_ctp_tags-entertainment","tax_ctp_tags-human-nature","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-lukewarmness","tax_ctp_tags-nature-of-human","tax_ctp_tags-self-indulgence","tax_ctp_tags-self-will","tax_ctp_tags-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-time-management","tax_ctp_tags-values","tax_ctp_tags-vices","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - 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