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“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! Matthew 6:22-23 (NLT)
Whether the issue is what we are watching from Redbox or Netflix, reading, or taking in from the nightly news…the message in this passage is quite clear. What we take in with our eyes ultimately determines the level of light (or darkness) in our life as a believer.
‘…the light you think you have is actually darkness…’ really jumped out at me today as I was praying and meditating on the passage. There’s a clear warning here of the possibility of waking up one day to realize that what we’ve been using to fuel the lamp of our eye has actually been filling our body with ‘dark’ smoke, and not the illuminating, life-giving light our Heavenly Father desires for us.
You know, I think most Christians (like myself) usually read these verses and attribute them to issues of greed, lust, admiration, materialism, etc. But I believe it can also be taken figuratively. Not only what we physically see in front of us, but how we see life around us in general. I’m talking about our worldview. For example, when our personal opinions and thoughts about particular societal issues (abortion, same-sex marriage, cohabitation before marriage, etc.) conflict with what God’s Word says about them….we have a problem. Verse 24 goes on to say that ‘no one can serve two masters.’ Therefore, our ‘whole body’ cannot be filled with light as a Christian if we view certain issues as socially acceptable and the Bible clearly teaches otherwise.
So, do you have a position on an issue that is not in line with the Bible? The question all of us must face is, “Do I give more credibility to the Word of God or the world in this area of my life?” Who are we really allowing to shape our worldview? Today, may we take inventory on what is truly fueling the lamp of our eye.
Brent Dumler 