January 5
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeFirst Week in Advent.—Thursday
The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 S. John 3:8.
WHAT are the works of the devil in each of us? Enmity to God, alienation from Him, and this Christ came to cast out of us, so that we should be the friends, nay, rather the loving children of God Himself. Selfishness is a work of Satan, the Son of God came that He might destroy this by opening our hearts to one another, as His Heart was open towards us. Impurity in all its forms is a work of the devil; and S. John writes that every man that hath this hope in him, the hope, that is, of seeing Christ for ever, purifieth himself even as He is pure. Malice, envy, ill-will, slander, party spirit,—all these are works of the devil; and the Son of God came to cast them out of us. Shall we cherish within us the evil things which the Son of God Himself came to destroy? And as we must not for Christ's sake suffer these evil things within us, so neither must we acquiesce in their existing around us: we must not be content to see them in our neighbours, in our brethren, in the Church, in the world. Let us by our prayers, by our example, by our influence, by our good conversation, fight determinedly against them, and so, and only so, shall we be assured that we are on the side of Christ.
Be brave, my brother!
Fight the good fight of faith
With weapons proved and true;
Be faithful and unshrinking to the death,
Thy God will bear thee through.
The strife is terrible,
Yet 'tis not, 'tis not long;
The foe is not invincible,
Though fierce and strong.