The Lamp of the Body

     The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23).

    It is a given that most of us take our eyes for granted . . . until something goes wrong with our sight, then we get very concerned. In this text Jesus used our eyesight as an illustration for what He had just talked about – focusing our attention on the Lord and His ministry through our generosity.

     When a healthy eye is focused directly on an object (the eye is ‘single’), everything is clear and plain – it brings ‘light’ into the body. If the eye vibrates, is cloudy because of disease, ‘flits’ back and forth between different objects, is fixed on no particular thing, nothing is seen clearly. Everything is dim and becomes confused – the body is full of darkness. When this happens the person becomes unsteady because the eye regulates the motion of the body.

     To have an object distinctly in view is necessary in order to correct and regulate action. A tight-rope walker has to have clear eyes focused on the cable and the placement of his feet if he is going to successfully walk the cable. If he is distracted or becomes dizzy, he may end his life in a fall. A farmer has to have clear eyesight to focus on some object at the end of the field if he is to plow a straight furrow. A marksman has to have clear eyesight if he is to hit the target.

     Jesus said it is important to focus our affections on the things that matter in the Kingdom of God. When we lose our focus, or redirect our focus on the things of the world, we will become unstable in our life and inconsistent in our ministries. Having our eyes focused on things heavenly - single, steady, unwavering – will in turn direct our conduct to those ministries that build up the Kingdom of God.

     “Father, keep my eyes clear so that my focus will remain on You and Your Kingdom and its work. Distractions are all around me, and sometimes I get distracted. Redirect my vision, my thinking, my affections, so that Your work in and through me will not be hindered. Amen.”

Pastor