“Looking unto Jesus” (Heb. xii. 2).
There must be a constant looking unto Jesus, or, as the German Bible gives
it, an off-looking upon Jesus; that is, looking off from the evil,
refusing to see it, not letting the mind dwell upon it for a second. We
should have mental eyelashes as well as physical ones, which can be used
like shields, and let no evil thing in; or, like a stockade camp in the
woods, which repels the first assault of the enemy. This is the use of the
fringes to our eyes, and so it should be with the soul. Many do not seem
to know that they have spiritual eyes. They go through the world as if
somebody had cut off their eyelashes, and they stare away on the good and
evil alike. The devil comes along with his evil pictures and bids them
look. We cannot look upon evil without being defiled. Sometimes, in going
down the street, the sight of some of the pictures on the way will cast
their filth upon the soul so that we shall feel the need of being bathed
in Jesus’ blood for hours for cleansing. There has been no consent unto
sin, but the sight of it has defiled. There is no help for it but in the
resolute, steady, inner view of Christ.