The “Eyes” Have It

It has been said that the eyes are the windows to a man’s soul.  Jesus tells us “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!”[1]  It is very interesting that this passage of scripture is sandwiched between His instruction regarding where we store up our treasures and the fact we cannot serve two masters.  Jesus is telling us if we are taking in Godly things with our eyes then we will reflect His light but if we are taking in the sinful things of the world with our eyes, we will reflect darkness.  There is the old adage “garbage in garbage out” and this is certainly true of a man’s eyes.  If we take in the “garbage” of the world then our lives will demonstrate that “garbage.”  Jesus is telling us we must guard our eyes in order to protect our body, mind and emotions.  Life experience tells us that whatever is taken in by the eyes becomes fuel for the mind and the mind influences the body. If the eye takes in the wrong things the mind becomes Satan’s playground and he will use every tactic in his arsenal to “steal and kill and destroy.”[2]The prophet Isaiah tells us “Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’  You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!  Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He did not make me’?  Can the pot say of the potter, ‘He knows nothing’?”[3]  Because men are so skilled at compartmentalizing their lives, we think we can keep God in a box and He will not know when we are dabbling in “darkness.”  After all Satan makes sin so inviting and he is very convincing that we can try his tempting darkness without anyone ever knowing about it.  Once we fall for this ploy, he most commonly uses a man’s eyes to draw him further and further into his darkness.  What is taken in by the eye is then processed by the mind and the mind then directs the body.  Before long a man is caught in Satan’s web of deception and darkness.  Isaiah uses the image of the “potter” and the “clay” to show us just how foolish this is.  When the potter pours himself into his creation then he knows that work intimately.  Just like the potter, God knows you intimately because you are His creation.  He has poured Himself into you!  We cannot compartmentalize God and we must understand that whether we choose to give Him access to all of our other compartments, He has full access to every compartment in our lives.  The darkness (sin) in our lives that we hide from our wife, children, family, and friends is always visible to our Heavenly Father.  He will fill you with His light if you will only focus yourself on Him and Him alone.John tells us “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: 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. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”[4]  WOW!  What an incredible challenge is in this passage when it says “if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”  Clearly God is telling us we cannot allow the eyes to take in darkness yet claim fellowship with Him.  If we “walk in the light” then the eyes can only take in the light and we will reflect His light in our lives.  This puts a man in the best position to maintain a righteous relationship with his Heavenly Father (righteousness comes from what God has done on our behalf and is not something we can do for ourselves.  A “right relationship” with God is what makes us righteous).  God’s Word tells us “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”[5]  Remember the event when Jesus was walking on water and Peter called to Him?  “Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’  ‘Come,’ he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’   Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?”[6]  Peter was actually walking on water until he took his eyes off of Jesus.  This is true in our lives as well.  It is when we take our eyes off of Jesus that we find ourselves sinking into the darkness.  God’s men must keep their eyes focused on Jesus and by doing so, their lives will reflect God’s light.  There is another very important message in this passage as well.  Even when we find our eyes drawn away from Jesus, He is immediately available and He will reach out His hand to pull us out of the darkness that may surround us.  God’s men must remember that the eyes have it!