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The Eye Is The Lamp Of The Body |
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Luke 11:33-36 No one, having lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under the grain measure, but upon the lampstand, in order that those who are entering from time to time, may see the light. When your eye is in single focus, sound, and fulfilling its function, also your whole body is well lighted. But when it is pernicious, also your body is full of darkness. Be constantly scrutinizing yourself therefore, lest the light which is in you is darkness. Therefore, assuming that your whole body is well lighted, not having any part full of darkness, the whole shall be full of light as when the lamp by its bright shining illuminates you. (Taken from Weust translation of the Greek New Testament.)
There is a difference in having some light and being full of light. When we light a candle on the candlestick, it gives off light. The Greek meaning of light is brilliancy. If we are full of light (lustrous, transparent or well-illuminated), our whole body is well lit and the Holy Spirit keeps us cleaned out. That's why we are to be constantly asking the Holy Spirit to keep us clean and pure and brilliantly transparent. If we ask Him, He will show us areas in our lives that we need to work on and things that are weighing us down and keeping us from doing what God would have us do. For instance, if we are full of selfishness and only thinking of what we want or need, how can we expect God to work through us to help others in need. If we strive to stay in the "light" each day, any little area of darkness will be recognized immediately and can be dealt with before it becomes a large area of darkness. According to the verses above, we can have what we think is "light" in us and it can really be "darkness". The way to keep this from happening is to line up everything we do by the Word of God. We can also check the fruit we are bearing to see if it lines up with what God's fruit is according to the Word. It is very easy to justify our actions and rationalize them as being right ones in our own minds. Even someone who does something really bad can rationalize it because they had a bad childhood, or some other bad thing that may have happened to them earlier in their life. Also, it's not an easy thing to swallow your pride when you find that you have been believing a lie. There's no room for pride when you desire to live in the "light". If we are full of darkness, we will manifest the fruit of that darkness. On the other hand, if we live in the light, we will live under the blessings of God, and we will shine and manifest the right fruit from God so others can see it being brought forth in our lives. If the eye is evil (ill or diseased, hurtful in effect or influence), the body is full of darkness (opaque, benighted, dark). We must constantly make sure that our eye has not become diseased and that our body is not full of darkness (shadiness or obscurity) instead of light (luminous, to shine). The bright shining of a candle means glaring or lightning. When our eye is single it is folded together or clear. We can see things very clearly. When the Holy Spirit shows us an area of darkness, it is our choice whether we want to let the darkness grow, or make a choice to put an end to the desires of the flesh. Sometimes we feel that it's just easier to feed the flesh because we don't feel that we can change things anyway. Putting an end to the flesh is the only way to have a body that is transparently brilliant and well illuminated. It should be our desire to have an eye that is single, that is only seeking to know and obey God more than anything else in our life. Even though it may seem that God is expecting us to live a life of no fun or one that is dull and boring, the truth is exactly opposite of what Satan has tried to plant in our minds. The real truth of the matter is that if we die to self and live in the light, our lives will be so joyful and happy that we would never want to go back to the old way of life. We would experience untold blessings from God and our lives would be so exciting that we could say that they are much better than any action movie that we have ever even seen on television or at the movies. We would live each day with total expectation of what great thing God was going to do in our lives. Our God is a living God, and is just waiting for His children to come to the realization that he wants to bless them and give them abundant lives.
Text written and authored by Cathy Deaton and is her own work. |