Matthew 6:22-24
The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, if your eye should be sound, your
whole body will be full of light. But if
your eye should be evil, your whole body will be in the state of darkness. Therefore if the light in you is the state of
darkness, how great is the darkness!
Nobody is powerful enough to be enslaved to two lords. For either he will hate the one and love the
other or he will adhere to one and he will feel contempt for the other. You all are not powerful enough to be enslaved
to God and worldly wealth.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
Jesus makes several points in this opening passage about
light. The first point is about the
light that can come into the body. Think
of the eye in terms of a window. If a
window is clean, then a great amount of light can enter through it. However, if a window is dirty and in need of
cleansing, the amount of light is diminished.
In the same way, our eyes impact the rest of our being. If our eyes are clean and pure, then much of
God’s light can enter into our life. But
if our eyes are focused on sinfulness, then we naturally limit the amount of
God’s light than can enter into our life.
If you want to see God more clearly, make sure that your eyes are focused
upon things that do not lead you into sin.
Where do your eyes focus?
What catches your eye? Do you
spend time gazing upon godly things?
Second Thought:
However, there is a very interesting teaching in this
passage that doesn’t come through in the English at all. The Greek word that I have translated as “sound”
in the opening verse is the word haplous (ἁπλοῦς).
This is a word that literally means willingly generous. This same word is used in James 1:5, Romans
12:8, or even 2 Corinthians 9:11. I believe
Jesus is not just teaching us about the eye as the entry to our being but also
the eye as the entry of our mission. If
our eye sees the world in terms of generosity, mission opportunities will
about. But if our eye sees the word
through an evil lens, then we will have little chance for mission. Think of it this way. We can either live our life looking upon
others with grace and mercy and looking for the best for the people around us
or we can look upon others with an evil intention as we look self-centeredly
for our own best.
Do you look through eyes that are focused on what is good
for the people around you? When do you
look at the world through selfish eyes focused on only what is good for you?
Third Thought:
Jesus also talks about serving two masters. I’ve always loved this passage for its blunt
perspective. Jesus is very blunt. We are not powerful enough to be enslaved –
to serve, if you need a less blunt translation – to two masters. We are not powerful enough! We cannot do.
It not that such a state would necessarily be wrong; it is that we are
not powerful enough to make it happen!
When I look at myself, I find this to be true. I honestly have a difficult enough time
focusing on doing God’s will. There is
no way I can balance doing God’s will with my own will! I am not powerful enough to be bound to more
than one agenda. So it is best for me to
simply focus on one master and His agenda!
Do you serve more than one master? When you try, how do you struggle with it?
Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 6:25-34
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