Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You are seized by a law of sin warring against the law of your mind, dragging you into captivity. This is the battle the Apostle mourns, where that tyrant overpowers and leads you where you would not go. Yet do not try to bury this shame by adding secret upon secret. Sin is not hidden by more sin; it is only exposed the more. The way of escape is repentance and confession. Let your soul be pierced by the remembrance of your latter end. One who trembles at the coming judgment is slow to rush into transgression. Fear of hell, held daily in the heart, purifies more fiercely than any flame. But do not despair, for where sin abounded, grace superabounded far beyond it. Christ does not merely cancel punishment; He grants life and strength to overcome. He who delivered the Apostle from the lion’s jaws will deliver you from every evil work. His grace is mightier than the chains that bind you. Turn to Him with unmasked sorrow, and trust that He will set your feet upon a rock, enabling you to resist even to blood, striving against sin, and by His power to stand.
