Set it down in your own minds, as a most certain truth, that sin and vice have a stupefying influence on the heart; they are like that fish which in some southern seas is said to benumb those who meddle with it. Besides other reasons for it there is this, that God Himself seems to us very often to be as we ourselves are. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I shall be like to thee, is His own word. There are many whose better judgments are smothered by their own evil appetites and worldly aims. Like light buried in some thick or dark body, their views of God, of Christ, of salvation, and of all gracious and saving things are discoloured and darkened by their own vices. So long as we harbour any besetting sin, whether it be profligacy or worldliness, no gracious or Christian dispositions will take root in our hearts. They may, like flowers plucked in a garden, and stuck in a pot of earth, show an outward beauty for a time, but soon wither and pass away. Sin sucks up the affections from God; carries captive the will, and fulfills in those who yield to it Christ's very solemn words, You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. But be subject to God, and resist the devil, and he will flee from you: draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. In the strength of the Holy Spirit resist every wrong inclination you find rising in you. Consider how God says to you: Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy: and that Jesus shed His blood on the cross for you, and has left for you that gracious, weighty declaration: For them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. Walk today in the light of it, praying that it may be your portion, and God will bless and keep you.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp