FOLLOW THE CLUES TO ‘THE EYE OF THE BODY’
In a mystery movie, the screenwriter cleverly drops clues along
the way. But it’s when we watch more of the story we flesh out the clues, and
the whole story comes together to make sense—mystery solved. The Bible is
like that. When reading the gospel of Matthew, I found several passages along
the way that were like those clues in a movie, and I didn’t fully understand
their meaning. When that happens, I go to a Concordance to start to flesh out
what God is really saying. A Concordance gives me a fuller definition of the
original language before men translated it into English. Here’s an example with
Matthew 6:22-24.
22 “The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
darkness!
24 No man can serve
two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he
will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The first word I looked up was “light” in verse 22. In the
original language, it is a portable candle, one that can be lit, or it can go
out. The next word I looked at was “eye.” Here it is used metaphorically for ethical qualities.
The candle guiding us is our moral or ethical standards guiding
our whole body. The “body” consists of our physical body, soul, and spirit.
What we do with our body, soul, and spirit is maneuvered by our moral
standards.
In the second part of verse 22, what does it mean, “if thine eye
be single “? The word single is defined as “simple, clear, in which there is
nothing complicated or confused; without folds (not double-minded).” Jesus says
that if our eyes (ethical qualities) are clear and not cluttered, our “whole
body will be full of light.”
To be full of light, we need to be sure we’re not contaminating Bible
standards with standards from other sources.
Granted, a person needs to understand what the Bible actually says
and not just blindly believe what we’ve “always” been taught. Asking questions
is perfectly okay with our God, and plenty of verses document that.
The first part of Matthew 6:23 goes on to say: “But if thine eye
be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” The word “eye” is, again
ethical quality. The word “evil” is “the Evil one,” so this is saying that if a
person’s moral conduct is inspired, motivated, or manipulated by the evil one, the
intent is “wicked, actively bad, actively causing sorrow or pain.” The person
is fully involved in “bringing toil, hardships, annoyances, and trouble.”
When a person’s moral codes are deranged, the whole self will be
full of darkness. “Full of darkness” is translated from one word that
means covered in darkness, like a tent. Things are opaque; vision is blinded.
Actions are shady and shadowy. There is “ignorance
respecting divine things and human duties.” People whose moral standards begin
to deteriorate become prey to the Evil one’s ethics, or lack thereof. They
become “persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway.”
And the last part of verse 23 says: “If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The word “light” in this
part of the verse means the light of God. If that gets compromised, the
darkness gets “great,” which means great in number, magnitude, and degree.
God has the antidote to going to the dark side. In the next verse,
Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The word “hate” doesn’t mean what we think it
does. In this verse, it’s a relative preference. It means a person prefers one
over another. He or she cares about serving the interests of one rather than
the other, for whatever reason. A straightforward analysis would be if a person
has two jobs, two bosses, and both want the person to work on the same Saturday. The worker can’t do
both, so he or she analyses the pros and cons and picks one.
When Jesus says: “He will hold to the one, and despise the other,”
it means he’ll “hold fast to, cleave to” one and not really think much of the
other. To “despise” means to” think less of, disdain, to look down on.”
We can’t be disciples (disciplined ones) of the Lord and get all
the benefits of God if we play in the devil’s sandbox. The consequences of yielding
to the devil's ways just aren’t worth it.
Let’s come to the feet of our merciful God and learn what it means
to truly surrender all to Him.
Love, Carolyn
If your family members or friends would like to get my weekly Preach
Letters, let me know.
I publish one every week on my profile page on FB, my Christian
Writing: A Journey in Faith page on FB, and Blogger. I can send them to an
email or physical address if that works better for you.
I sell my e-books and booklets on Amazon, as well as paperbacks of my
first two books.
No comments:
Post a Comment