SO GOOD QUOTES

Without the love of God within you, you cannot repent. Without the love of God, you would not leave sin because of purity of heart, but merely as the outer proceedings of a formal reconciliation with God, because of fear of His anger and punishment. A person who fears God’s punishment and fears that sin might lead him into hell becomes religious. He calls this piety, that is, the fear of God and His anger. With this fear, he avoids practicing sin, but the sin does not stay away from his heart.

The heart continues swinging to the right and to the left, and will not settle except with love toward God.

—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity