The Eye is the Lamp

Sometimes I wish I could turn the world off.

Everything competes for my attention.  The next person selling something. The next thing that's going to make my life easier, more attractive. 

This computer screen that I sit at all day, almost every day, for 8+ hours has too many rabbit holes to go down at any given time and my eyes become filled with the next thing to buy, the newest touching story or the latest horror story.

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I've been reading Matthew (yes I finally got into the new testament!) and I've slowed my reading down to almost a passage at a time because there is so much MEAT in these words I'm reading now, it's best to take a paragraph at a time and focus on it, instead of doing chapters.

I am in Chapter 6 and reading about Jesus' teachings on money and worry and something has always pierced my heart in particular ... the whole section reads like this:

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ 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!
²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

 (emphasis added, taken from biblegateway.com)

Now, in this particular translation, they had separated the sections into "teaching about money" and "not to worry", probably to help the reader discover what is being talked about, but I think it's a bit of a disservice, because as I was reading these two pieces of scripture the last couple days, they really shouldn't be separated because they truly relate to each other.

We are NOT to concern ourselves with the world, with things that time and rust destroy, we are to focus upon Heaven, upon seeking, SEEING first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness . If we do these things, I think we would naturally NOT worry so much, about anything, because we would have Kingdom sight.

I also found it particular that in between the fairly obvious blurbs about storing up treasure in heaven and not worrying about "stuff" (food and clothes) there is an interesting two verses about our eyes. This seems kind of odd at the outset, but if we dig further, I feel like it's an instruction for us, on HOW we can focus upon the Kingdom, not on the world, and then conversely NOT worry about food or clothing

There is a reason why marketers undulate us with ads, online, on TV, and the radio. They are competing with our senses for that small spot of real estate in which they can influence what we think about, what we focus on, through what we SEE and hear. Because where our thoughts are (where our "treasure" is) our hearts will be also.

So, if my eyes are the lamp of my body, I'm going to want to look at good stuff, pure stuff, "light' stuff, so that my eyes will be good.  If I'm looking at "dark" things, then the "light" I'm letting into my soul, isn't really light at all, and it's going to taint everything I see.

And lets make a note, not all "dark" things are EVIL on the outside. I think something dark is anything that pulls me away from His Kingdom's light, and dims my view of His love, His mercy, His justice. Anything else that occupies my time, my thoughts, can seep into the corners of my heart. Things like the latest youtube clip proposal, the most recent funny image to "share" or that conspiracy theory everyone is talking about.

This world is so full of distraction, esp now in light of social media, it's too easy to fill my eyes with this mud of mediocraty that pulls me away from His truth and causes me to want more, want something else, covet what my sister has, and worry about the future.

I want, and need to be extra careful to let His light INTO my eyes, INTO my heart, INTO my soul so that I can SEE the Kingdom of God first and let that color everything else.  This was a message for me ... maybe it speaks to you too.

Till Next Blog ~ love a.