December 10

Twenty-first Tuesday after Trinity

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:13.

God arms us from head to foot. "He gives us the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation," and the rest of that Divine armoury. Yet He shows us thereby how whole and entire our armour must be, if we would not be wounded. He exhorts, by S. Paul, "to fight the good fight," and to "lay" (grasp) hold of eternal life, as being one and the same thing. "I have fought the good fight," says S. Paul, when about to suffer death for the Lord. Our Lord, speaking to the whole Church of all times, in His words to the seven churches of Asia, closes alike rebuke or encouragement with the promise "to him that overcometh." Whether they had to repent of leaving their first love; to hold fast what they had, and "to keep His works unto the end," to "strengthen what remains;" or to cast off lukewarmness, and "be zealous and repent," the promise to all alike is "to him that overcometh." Our Lord sums up in the last, His sevenfold promise, "to him that overcometh I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son." To be saved from the hands of our enemies, that we might serve God in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life, is the sum of the promise.

Oh, by Thy Name upon our hearts engraved, And by the Blood that bought our souls for Thee, Bring us at last unto that blessed haven Where there is no more night and no more sea!