21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,c your whole body will be full of light.23But if your eyes are unhealthy,d your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Mt. 6)
Thoughts: This passage is about not letting this world and all of its stuff control you. Jesus asks us to put our hope beyond what we can see- to put our treasure in heaven.
Then there is this curious passage about eyes and light right before Jesus says we cannot love both God and money. I used to think this passage was about not lusting after people or things. But it is far more, and it has to do with how we give. What do you allow your eyes to see? What do you put into your soul through our eyes? If you keep pouring dark stuff into your soul through greed and lust, it makes the light within us dark. We must focus not on what we do not have- with a lust for more (greed). For greed destroys the soul. On the other hand, if we focus on God in Jesus Christ, we are reminded of His generosity to us. Generosity empties the soul of its dark greed, putting more light back in. We make our eyes healthy when we focus on how much we can given rather than how much I can get. Your eyes- your focus- has so much to do with your ability to give. Do you see things through the eyes of faith- that God is our Provider? Or do you see that you must provide for yourself for God will not? If you believe in God, it changes your focus. You walk and you give by faith and not simply by sight.
Then there is this curious passage about eyes and light right before Jesus says we cannot love both God and money. I used to think this passage was about not lusting after people or things. But it is far more, and it has to do with how we give. What do you allow your eyes to see? What do you put into your soul through our eyes? If you keep pouring dark stuff into your soul through greed and lust, it makes the light within us dark. We must focus not on what we do not have- with a lust for more (greed). For greed destroys the soul. On the other hand, if we focus on God in Jesus Christ, we are reminded of His generosity to us. Generosity empties the soul of its dark greed, putting more light back in. We make our eyes healthy when we focus on how much we can given rather than how much I can get. Your eyes- your focus- has so much to do with your ability to give. Do you see things through the eyes of faith- that God is our Provider? Or do you see that you must provide for yourself for God will not? If you believe in God, it changes your focus. You walk and you give by faith and not simply by sight.
Prayer: Lord, make my eyes and heart healthy.
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