J Heinrich Arnold-Freedom from sinful thoughts.pdf

FREEDOM FROM SINFUL THOUGHTS -P U R I F I C A T I O Nminds, and that we will always be subject to temptation.Yet he goes on to describe our fight against evil as avictorious one in which every thought is “taken captiveto obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Again, the victory maynot be easily gained. We must face the fact that thestruggle is a full fledged war that has been wagedcontinually since the fall of man, and that since theResurrection and the coming down of the Holy Spirit atPentecost, it has only intensified. The wonderful thingabout Paul’s words is his certainty that our thoughts canbe taken captive to obey Christ.In his writing “On Inner Detachment,” Eckhardttells us how a pure heart can become a reality for eachof us:If God is to enter into you, your creaturely, human nature mustgo out of you. For only where this nature ends does God begin.God does not desire more of you than that you should go outfrom yourself, insofar as you are burdened with your humannature, and let God be God in you. The slightest image you haveof the creature that you are, is as big as God: it keeps you awayfrom your whole God. To the extent that such an image entersyou, God must yield, and to the extent that this image goes out,God enters in.Self-love is the root and cause of all evil; it snatches away allthat is good and all that is perfect. Therefore if the soul is toknow God, it must also forget itself and lose itself. For as long asit sees itself, it will not see and know God. But when it loses66