All approval of the truths and precepts of Christianity is worse than vain if it does not lead us to be earnest, devout, and practical Christians. If our daily lives are allowably at variance with the known will of God, it is hypocrisy to pretend to like it, or to pray Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Profession of religion, without a change of heart, and newness of life, leaves us like those Jews, who went away wondering, from hearing Christ's words, and seeing his miracles, but not becoming his disciples; admiring but not believing in Him. What avails our admiration of Christ, if we don't imitate Him? Thy goodness, thy power, thy wisdom, O, my Saviour, are indeed suited to draw me to Thee, and to win me to a better and holier life, but I am conscious of a great disposition to keep back from such a life. I need the continual help of Thy grace, that I may be a doer of the word, and not a hearer only, deceiving my own self. Help me, that in the daily trials of a Christian life, in the struggle with temptations, and against the influence of an evil world, and the deceitfulness of my own corrupt heart, I fall not from following Thee. Keep through the day that prayer of David in your mind: Order my steps in Thy word, and let not any iniquities have dominion over me.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp