Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
The eye is the gateway for your brain to receive images of your physical surroundings and convert those images in your brain to meaningful information. Our eyes imprint the things we see around us onto the memory centers of our brains. We access those images mentally, long after we have changed locations or turned out the lights. What we see, we keep in the inner eye of remembrance.
Our visual remembrances of images and experiences can help us or hurt us. For example, we can be instructed through visual clues about our surroundings that enable us to make decisions, find locations, structure our days, and recognize people and places. We use our eyes to interpret the body movements and facial expressions that go beyond the words spoken in a conversation. For people suffering vision impairment, the physical world afforded to us normally through our eyes must be accessed in some other manner in order for people to function in the day-to-day affairs of the sighted. Our eyes are marvelously and immeasurably complex; through them, we gain the knowledge we need to proceed forward through every day on this planet and from our eyes we gain knowledge of the people around us.
Most of us know the warnings in the Old Testament, such as Ps 101:3, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” or Job 31:1, “I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think on a maid?” These instruct us about how dangerous it is to absorb bad images into the eye of our memories, because such things might distract us or lead us to act badly, such as encouraging us to covet or even steal something that isn’t our own. Sometimes, we fill our brains with images that lead us to fear, greed, lust, or hate. In Ps 119, the question is posed, “How are people to keep their ways pure?” The answer is, we are to fix our eyes on God and learn His ways through His word.
Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV)
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
The only way for us as Christ-followers to keep ourselves on the right path is to know what God has said to us in His word. To fill our eyes with the light of His word is the only way to let the light of God’s truth penetrate into all the parts of our minds and lives with His truth and life. Only by letting God’s word of truth penetrate all parts of our lives, will we be able to avoid the dangers of self-deception and hypocrisy. We want Jesus to be shown through our lives as truly, clearly, and authentically as possible. We don’t want anything to confuse people about who Jesus is or cause them to miss His great love, all because we are not showing them the genuine life of Christ.
Here are a few verses to help us meditate on how “eye” is used in the New Testament, starting with the book of Matthew. The word is used for the physical eye, but more importantly, the figurative eye, or in other words, the gateway to our souls and minds. If the eye of our souls’ vision is blocked or faulty—for example, if it is blocked by a log, closed by blindness or slumber, or leading us astray in some way—we will not be filled with light, and worse yet, we might not know the objective facts about ourselves. We will be blind to what is going on in our souls.
- Matthew 5:29 (also see 18:9) “If your right eye makes you stumble…”
- Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye…”
- Matthew 7:3 “If you see the log that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice…”
- Matthew 9:29 Jesus heals two blind men: “And their eyes were opened…”
- Matthew 13:15 Jesus quotes from Isaiah: “…and their eyes they have closed…lest they see”
- Matthew 13:16 “Blessed are your eyes because they see….Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it…”
- Matthew 17:8 “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
- Matthew 20:32-34 “Jesus called them [two blind men] and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”
- Matthew 21: 42 Jesus quotes from the old testament scriptures regarding the chief cornerstone rejected by those who wanted to build the house, but on whom the cornerstone would fall and crush, “…this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
- Matthew 26:43 About the disciples falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus had asked them to stay awake and pray: “And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.”
These verses show the importance of having the eyes of our hearts and minds clear and open to seeing God through His word.
Lay before the Lord the state of your vision so that He can search you with His light.
May the eyes of your heart be open and healthy and “your whole body full of light.”
—Susan LaVelle
Recommended Reading to help you have more productive Bible study:
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, Dr. Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart
From Amazon’s description of this book:
“Understanding the Bible isn’t for the few, the gifted, the scholarly. The Bible is accessible. It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to seminary students. A few essential insights into the Bible can clear up a lot of misconceptions and help you grasp the meaning of Scripture and its application to your twenty-first-century life.
More than three quarters of a million people have turned to How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth to inform their reading of the Bible. This fourth edition features revisions that keep pace with current scholarship, resources, and culture. Changes include:
- Updated language for better readability
- Scripture references now appear only in brackets at the end of a sentence or paragraph, helping you read the Bible as you would read any book—without the numbers
- A new authors’ preface
- Redesigned and updated diagrams
- Updated list of recommended commentaries and resources
Covering everything from translational concerns to different genres of biblical writing, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is used all around the world. In clear, simple language, it helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible—their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today—so you can uncover the inexhaustible worth that is in God’s Word.”
Trinity Church 