Focus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FOCUS

Matt 6:22-23

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

NIV

This statement of Jesus is mainly just the middle of the larger teaching, which started with not storing up wealth for ourselves and ends with not being able to serve two masters, God and money. That we can only serve one of them. Here he makes the point about our eyes. It has been said, “The eyes are the window to your soul” , William Shakespeare. Also a great Roman philosopher Cicero said, “The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter”.  These are just variations of what Jesus speaks here. But the idea is about the simple view of the eye, it is meant to focus on one object at a time and in the case Jesus is making, our eye should be focused on God. But if the eye is wandering, is spasmodic, seeing double, or multiple visions, then as the eye is considered unhealthy so is the body, or the mind which controls the body. This matches with his teaching about seeking first the kingdom of God. When we have eyes that are distracted by all the stuff of this world, our mind follows suit bringing us to seek them, perhaps not first, but along with the kingdom. This is blurred vision, double vision, confused vision, not able to remain fixed on any one thing, such as the kingdom of God. This is why this is in the middle of not storing up and serving two masters, God and money. We can see that the eye is the symbol of what our focus is on and it should be on God. How much time do we spend on the things of God compared to the time we spend focused on money, either the lack of it, or how we are going to ensure the gaining of more of it, or how best can we store it up? It would appear in the whole of the context of his teaching, we cannot focus on both. The two are not compatible. The truth is, as we focus our eyes on Jesus, as we look fully into his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. But if our focus is blurred by the wants of the earth, our whole body is affected, we are overcome by the darkness, and we have a darkness within, instead of the light of Christ. He told us that we are the light of the world and that we are to let our light shine before men so they can see our good deeds, our love for God, and then they will praise God. But if our light is not the light, but instead our focus is on the same things theirs are, we have a darkness within and therefore we have no light to shine. If we show them a double focus, saying we are seeking after God, but they see us seeking after the same as them, money, and the storing up of it, in the case, then what they see is a hypocrite, not the light of Christ shining forth. What do our eyes say about us? Where is our true focus? Is it singular? Is it on the things of God, or earth, or do we have double vision? How do we not get distracted by our eyes? How do we not focus on the needs of this life? Again we have to remember Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God, and he will add all the things we need for our lives. He will supply all our need, all the stuff we require to live when and where he has determined and directed us to live. Singular focus on the light.