LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 6:22-23, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?”  Jesus

 

I have mild glaucoma; I put an eye drop in each eye every morning. I am also at that age when cataracts start to grow and are causing my vision to be cloudy; I squint a little more to read. I am both thankful the glaucoma was diagnosed while in the early stages and I would like the cataracts to be removed so I can see clearly again.

 

This just leads into today’s thoughts. The eye is extremely important for a person to gain information. It is also one way the enemy uses to tempt us. I cannot help but think about the cruelty of those in history would put out the eyes of captured opponents because this was considered a way to destroy their power. I think of the example of Samson in the book of Judges. I must admit that whole thing is painful to me!

 

The purpose of the eye is to enable us to see our way. It must be focused and be clear in order to do this. It is quite interesting to see that Jesus talked about the heart just before He talked about the eye. He said where our treasure is our heart would be there also. Jesus was saying the same thing about the eye – what we focused our eye on and where our heart was is, there we focus our attention. Jesus said we can have eyes that are good or they can be good.

 

The people of this time believed the eye was the window to the soul. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “what one allows into his or her thought-life produces desires, which in turn produces action and it is one’s action (or conduct) that reveal who a person truly is.” When the eye is good or clear it enables a person to see their way through life. A bad eye will cause a person to focus on the wrong things. Jesus was clearly speaking about how a person sees material wealth. A bad eye will focus on material wealth and possessions; it is possible this person might be trying to focus on God at the same time. Jesus is saying you cannot do both because this causes “double-vision”, so to speak; you cannot serve both God and mammon. To focus on wealth causes a person to be stingy and covet money and produces spiritual darkness in their life.

 

Jesus said, “If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” If your eye is properly focused your body can move properly, it functions in its movements as it was made to do. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” An out of focused eye results in unsteadiness and stumbling. If one’s goal is material wealth, it will mean darkness within the person.  Sadly, that darkness can grow darker as the desire for wealth and things grows. Their concern is to get all they can regardless of what it means to anyone else. But if one’s desire is to serve and glorify God, there will be light within so that others see that light. Those with this light evaluate things properly because “stuff” is put in proper perspective.

 

Let me close today with some thoughts written by Tony Dungy. “Our vision is influenced by how we see the world. Do we see it through the lens of hope and joy that our faith in Christ brings? Do we see it through the lens that know we’ll be in heaven for eternity, that our potential in God’s hands is unlimited, and that the challenges of the moment are but a blink of an eye in eternity? Or do we see the world through the lens of fear and despair and see our potential as limited. I pray not. What is your vision? Can you see a clear path God has set before you? Can you see past the distractions to where God is directing you.  May your answers be yes, but make sure you have regular checkups.”