If Your Eye is Healthy, Then..

[Sue J Love]

“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 ESV)

If we look up the word “eye” in a dictionary or thesaurus, we should learn that the word means more than just the physical eyes on our physical faces. The first word to come up on my thesaurus, in fact, is the word “judgment.” Words that followed that were “discernment” and “sense” (like in common sense, i.e. wisdom and/or logic, perception, insight, and awareness). And this is the kind of “eye” being referred to in this passage, I believe.

And a lamp is what gives light so that we can see what is in front of us or all around us or ahead of us or behind us (if we turn around). And our physical eyes are what help us to see all these things, too. But in a spiritual sense, and in the sense of the “eye” being our judgment and discernment, the eye (lamp) being referred to here is what helps us to see through spiritual insight and discernment, and which helps us to make good judgments.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.” (Psalms 119:105 ESV)

But where we should be getting our wisdom and discernment and good judgment is from the Lord and from the teachings of the Scriptures which were written down for us that we might learn what it means to believe in God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. For through the written word is one of the ways in which God speaks to us to show us what he has for us to do. But he has also given us the Spirit to live within us to counsel and to teach us the ways of the Lord, but in agreement with the written word.

So, if our eye (discernment, judgment, wisdom) is healthy, what should that look like? Well, first of all what is this light here? Jesus Christ is referred to in the Scriptures as the Light, and his word is the light, and the light is truth and righteousness and all that is of God and that is holy and upright. So if our judgment is healthy, our whole being will be filled with Jesus and with his word and with his truth and holiness and righteousness, put into daily practice in our lives. Our discernment will now be based on God’s word.

But if our eye (discernment, judgment, wisdom) is unhealthy (bad), then what? Our whole being is filled with darkness. And darkness is the absence of light, and it is sin and what is evil and is contrary to the character of God and of the teachings of the Scriptures. And this is what is leading many people into sin, because their “judgment” is from the darkness and not from the light. And darkness is often disguised as light, too, so be careful about “the light” that you are receiving and are putting into practice. Lies abound!

And this is HUGE! So much deception exists now within the gatherings of what are called “churches,” most of which appear in America to be businesses of human origin being marketed to the people of the world. And in order to “draw in large crowds of people from the world” they, thus, have mostly all altered and diluted the gospel message to make it more acceptable and appealing to human flesh and to the people of the world who they are trying to attract to their gatherings. For they want more people.

But this is going on within and without the gatherings of the church (in person), but this is carrying over to the internet and to social media and in the blogging world and on TV and on radio and in videos and writings and memes and songs and cartoons, et al. And mostly what they are doing is cutting everything so short, much of it deliberately, so that a false gospel message is what is being taught as the truth, but it is the Word taken out of context and made to say what it does not teach if taught in context.

So, how do we, as followers of Christ, discern these lies from the truth? We have to first of all be in genuine fellowship with God via death to sin and walks of obedience to his commands. Our lives must be surrendered to the Lord to do his will. Then we need to be serious students of the Scriptures who study them in their full context so that we understand their true meaning. And this needs to be led by the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth if we are willing to receive it, even if it conflicts what we believe.

For not all of us were taught the truth. And many of us were taught Scriptures out of context and thus were taught a meaning to them other than what is evident when taught in their appropriate context. So we need to also be people who examine and who test everything and everyone against the teachings of the Scriptures taught in their full context. But don’t put people in a religious box. God has made us individuals for a reason. But who we are and what we do must not contradict God and his Word.

Now, the truth of the gospel can be summarized in what Jesus taught us in Luke 9:23-26 ESV:

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.'”

Also: [Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:9-14; Matthew 28:19-20; John 1:12-13; John 6:35-58; John 8:31-32; John 10:27-30; John 14:15,21,23-24; John 15:1-11; Acts 26:18; and more]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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