Until Monday morning, 6th August, we are going to look at some extracts from my book.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22, 23)
Considering the context, we can conclude that in this verse, Jesus was talking about money. It follows the verse about our treasure. The verse about the masters, God and Mammon (money) follows it, and after that, we read about material goods for another eight verses. Therefore, the passage must be about money.
The eye introduces us to our surroundings, and the heart follows the eye. When a child notices a toy he likes in a toy store, he desires it, although he has never thought of buying that particular toy before. This applies to all people. The best way to keep a thief from stealing something is to hide it, and the best way to entice a customer to buy your product is to display it. What the eye does not see, the heart does not desire.
The passage above refers to the attitude of the eye. How are our eyes programmed? What will our hearts follow? We can’t help but see what is before us, but how we see it is what counts. We have a choice. A man can see a beautiful woman and either ignore her or let his heart follow his eyes and desire her.
In the case of money, we expose our eyes and hearts to cars, houses, desirable lifestyles, and vacations. When we program our eyes to focus on material goods, status, and position, our hearts will desire and obtain them.
We also see ourselves in our mind’s eye, and that determines what we desire. Do we see ourselves as rich, powerful, and influential, living in a mansion? Do we envision ourselves in a political or managerial position? If so, that is what the heart desires.
However, if we program our eyes to see the Lord, His works, and the needs of others, those eyes will ignore material things it sees and focus on what the Lord is doing. The heart will then follow, desiring to get involved with His activities. We see these with both the physical and the spiritual eye.
“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth,” (1 John 1:5b, 6). The Lord and Mammon, the god of money, are enemies. If God is light, then anything outside God must be darkness. If God and money are enemies, then money must be darkness.
A good eye, whether physical, spiritual, or the mind’s eye, focuses on the things of the Lord and will therefore bring light to the body. A bad eye focuses on things not of God, but of Mammon and other gods. They will darken the heart, since the God of light is absent. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness?” (Matthew 6:23b). If you use money or another dark entity as your guide, your life is destined for darkness.
To be continued.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment