T. 31. VIII. 1 – 3. Jesus: “Temptation has one lesson it would teach in all its forms, wherever it occurs. It would persuade the holy Son of God he is merely a body, born as what must die, unable to escape its frailty, and bound by what it orders him to feel. It sets the limits on what he can do; its limited strength the only power he has; his grasp unable to exceed its tiny reach. Would you still cling to this identity if Christ appeared to you in all His glory, asking you but this:
‘Choose once again, if you would take your place among the saviors of the world, or would remain in hell and hold your brothers there with you!’
For He has come, and He is asking this!
How do you make the choice? How easily is this explained! Whatever the circumstance, you always do choose between the weakness of your little self and the strength of Christ in you! And which you choose, you accept as your reality!
Simply by never letting weakness (guilt, fear or anger) direct your actions, you have given it no power over you! Thus the light of Christ in you is given charge of everything you do. For you have brought your weakness unto Him, and He has given you His strength instead!
The trials that you experience are but lessons you failed to learn before, now presented once again in time, so that where you once made a faulty choice, you now can make a better one, and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought to you.
In every difficulty, all distress and each perplexity, Christ calls to you from within and gently says, ‘My brother, choose again.’ He will not leave one source of pain unhealed, nor any image left to veil the truth. He will remove all misery from you, whom God created altar unto joy.
The Christ in you will not leave you comfortless, alone in dreams of hell, but will release your mind from everything that hides His face from you. Christ’s holiness is yours because His is the only Power that is real in you! His strength is yours because He is the Self that God created as His only Son.”