THE LOOK AWAY TO JESUS

The wisdom of the fathers

THE LOOK AWAY TO JESUS

To look to Jesus, while completely looking away from our own being is not only necessary for our conversion, but for our sanctification as well.

A dear Brother writes: "I was preoccupied with the stirring of the old man and had my eye on him, expecting that these stirrings would be overcome by the grace of the Spirit, as often as they showed themselves. In this way, I did not completely look away from the old Adam. After continued Bible-study however the teaching of the Gospel became ever clearer to me, namely that I had nothing to do with the old Adam anymore, but rather to a much higher degree, only with Christ, the new Adam. It was then that I took a deep look of faith to the cross.

I recognised the complete separation from the whole sinful nature and realised, what mattered now, that by completely looking away from the old Adam, I had to entrust myself totally to the new Adam.

Since I did this, I saw myself completely delivered from sin and moment by moment free from sin, because only my new Adam lives in me."

These words are true, because they correspond to the Word of God; added to that, they were tried and tested by numerous saints and found to be true. But there are always souls who, although agreeing to these truth in theory, can not bring themselves to accept them in faith and thank the Saviour in childlike simplicity for the purchased possession of sanctification.

(by Margarethe von Brasch)