refocus 7/18/2015
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If 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. SO if the light within you is darkness--how deep is that darkness? No one can e a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money." -Matthew 6:22-24 (HCSB) One thing that I noticed as I read through Christ's Sermon on the Mount was that it is very disjunct at points. It resembles Proverbs. Jesus seemed to just fire off teaching after teaching after teaching. Each teaching is very clearly defined. Many times they are unrelated, though sometimes they do. Most are very familiar. The above passage is the second half of one of those familiar portions of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:19-24 begins with "Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (v. 19)" Jesus begins with a thought on treasure (v.19-21), then says something about the eye (v.22+23) and then He returns to treasure (money specifically in v. 24). It's easy to glaze over the portion about the eye, even though I think that in context is is the crux of what Jesus is trying to emphasize in these five verses. Let's check it out! "The eye is the lamp of the body..." The primary purpose of a lamp is to light a dark space, mostly for the purpose of guidance. It shows you where you're going. What Jesus is getting at here is that our eye leads our body. What we are focused on determines where we are going. If we are focused not he light, then the body is lit; if focused on darkness then the body is drowned in darkness. Christ used the example of money here. You can't be focused on two things; you must choose one or the other. I don't think it's a coincidence that Jesus then launches into one of the most famous parts of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34. This is the part that hinges on verse 33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these thins will be provided for you." Focus on God, not money, not daily needs, not anything else. Fix your eyes, the light of your body, on God. I must admit, my eyes are not always focused on God. Often times I get so caught up in what's immediate. It could be anything--work, school, family, relationships, whatever. However, I need to focus solely on God so that as I do everything else I do it with His guidance. I walk in His light. I need to refocus my life on Him.
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