Better the Devil you know?

Sermon preached at the Cathedral of St Augustine of Canterbury on the third Sunday in Lent

Do you know your devil?

We are often told,

"better the devil you know

than the devil you don't."

So do you know your devil?

[PAUSE]

We often have this image

that on our right shoulder

stands our guardian angel

who looks like

a small version of us

only prettier and cleaner

and without unsightly hairs,

dressed in white

with halo and wings

and a rather simpering smile

over its smug little face.

Whereas, 

on our left shoulder

stands our devil,

who looks like

a small version of us

only uglier and red-skinned

with furry legs, horns,

more unsightly hairs,

and a mischievous twinkle

in its malevolent yellow eyes.

Is that what your angel 

and devil look like?

If they do,

then be prepared for a shock.

Any devil

that tries to tempt you

will look more like 

the image that you have

of your angel...

at first.

But let's dispel a few rumours.

[PAUSE]

You do not have

a devil and an angel

sitting on your shoulders.

Your guardian angel does not

sit on your right shoulder.

It is beetling up and down

between you

and the Throne of Heaven,

defending you,

praying for you,

correcting your prayers,

trying to steer you

and warn you,

but by directing your attention

to what is good,

or revealing the bad,

and not by whispering

in your ear...

normally.

More importantly,

you have a conscience,

which is really what

that idea of

the angel on your shoulder

represents.

That conscience 

is directed towards God,

but because of our fallen nature

it needs to be informed

to be of use.

It can only direct you

in the paths of righteousness

as far as you are willing

to have taught it what is good.

You need to keep its user manual 

up to date,

install the latest updates

and recognise bad habits

the more you grow in faith in God.

We inform our conscience

by learning what is 

good, true, clean, holy, lovely

and ordered to a better 

life with God.

But why would your devil

look more like your angel?

There's a good reason

why it definitely

does not look

like a hornèd imp.

Well, we still have 

more rumours

to dispel.

[PAUSE]

You don't have a devil,

at least not in the sense

the Holy Scriptures mean.

You have a dark side of your mind

where all the negative ideas

you have about yourself lie.

This dark side has grown

from sins and bad habits,

and not always your sins

and bad habits.

From the Holy Scriptures,

however,

we understand that

it is possible

to be controlled by devils

- that is at the heart of what we call

demonic possession,

where the will is

completely enslaved

by the powers of darkness.

In these situations

those who are possessed 

cannot do otherwise.

We see, 

in the Bible

that devils can make us dumb

or make us super strong

and raving mad.

But that doesn't mean

that being dumb

or super strong

or having significant 

mental illness

is necessarily caused

by a devil.

But if your conscience

can be informed by

good habits and good practices,

it can be damaged by bad habits

and bad practices.

And that's what the devils want.

So,

they pose as angels

to persuade you

into bad habits

by making them

look good

or, at least,

inconsequential.

If they looked like imps

you wouldn't take them

seriously.

The devils' job

is to make sin look attractive,

desireable,

irresistable.

That way,

even if you break a bad habit,

you have to watch out

because if you go back to it,

you get seven devils

trying to tempt you.

The worst of it is that,

when you give in to temptation

and you feel sorry,

the devils then make you feel

that you are unforgivable.

They don't drop

the façade

of looking like angels.

Instead,

they make you look

like the hornèd imp,

they give you the red skin

and yellow eyes

and convince you

that you are the devil,

hell-bound

and hated by God.

That is the lie.

You don't have a devil.

You are tempted by them.

But you don't possess a devil

and a devil doesn't possess you,

God forbid.

So if there isn't a devil 

on your left shoulder

nor an angel on your right,

how do you deal with

all those conflicting ideas?

How do we separate

what seems good

but is bad

and what seems bad

but is actually good

from

what seems good

and is actually good?

[PAUSE]

Two things.

First, the goal of the Devil

is to separate you from God.

So, if you know Who God Is,

then you know 

when someone is trying

to separate you.from Him

by tempting you

into despising what is holy

and loving what is unholy.

The more you strive

to be holy,

the more you try to know God,

the more you will recognise

the devil that's tempting you.

Second, the Devil will try 

either to persuade you

that he is equal with God

or that he himself doesn't exist.

The Devil will try to dominate you.

And he's right,

he is stronger than you,

but he is not another god.

Indeed, 

Jesus is the strong man

who breaks into the Devil's home

to carry out those

who are enslaved to him

- that's us.

Our Lord is the strong man

who carries us out

of the Devil's clutches

because we are God's priceless treasure.

And if the Devil

should try to persuade you

that he doesn't exist

and that all the evil in the world

comes from you,

then remind him

that he must exist

because Our Lord's foot 

is crushing his head.

[PAUSE]

The more we get into good habits

the more will we recognise

when we are duped.

Our angel will guide us

if we ask it.

The Devil will flee from us

when we oppose him

with Christ at our head.

The Devil can

circle our head as much as he likes.

We just 

don't let him sit

on our shoulder.