Eye-Catcher — Adam’s Angle

When people say, “There’s no harm in looking,” they’re usually talking about lust. But, as Christians, we’re quick to condemn that attitude because we know that lust is harmful.

But what if we’re not talking about sex drives, but instead we’re talking about the lust for “stuff”? Nice cars. Celebrity homes. Hi-definition, flat-screen, plasma, photon laser, 97-inch televisions? Don’t we think (as we drive through the ritziest neighborhood in town) that “there’s no harm in looking?”

If so, we need to re-read the Sermon on the Mount. In this same famous teaching where Jesus warns His listeners about sexual lust, he also warns them about the danger of material lust. Jesus tells them—and us—that in order to live a life of eternal value we need to set our desires on heavenly things so that the actions of our lives will follow.

Eye don’t get it

Jesus said some things that are hard to understand. Take Matthew 6:22-23 for example:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 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!”

Huh? Am I the only one here who thinks these verses (taken by themselves) are a bit tricky to figure out? Well, fortunately, we have some context to help us.

The big picture context is the Sermon on the Mount. This is when Jesus draws the line in the sand regarding who is in the kingdom of heaven. Section after section of His message is about those who are truly part of God’s kingdom versus those who outwardly look like they are part of God’s kingdom.

The more immediate context is that of how these two types of people treat earthly wealth. Just before Jesus mentions the eye being the lamp of the body, He talks about how heavenly treasure is superior to worldly riches:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Right after the verses about the eye, He talks about how no person can serve both worldly riches and God: “No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

The bottom line for figuring out Jesus’ eye metaphor is to understand that He’s talking about making a choice between heavenly things and earthly things.

See what eye’m getting at?

Since we know the context, we can see that when Jesus is talking about the “eye” He is talking about the things we desire—the things we look at.

When He says, “If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22), He is saying that if you desire good (heavenly, God-pleasing, eternal) things, then your actions (performed by your body) will follow suit so that you will do what is pleasing to God.

On the flip side, when He says, “But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:23) He means the opposite. If we hunger for the things of the earth, our actions will follow suit—and we will miss out on the things of eternal value.

It’s all a matter of setting our eyes—our desires—on the right things.

Eye repent!

Easier said than done, right? How do we fix our desires?

I think the first step (after, of course, letting the Holy Spirit work on our hearts) is to take stock of our desires. What is it we fix our gaze on most often? Is it houses, clothes or plasma TVs? We need to come clean with God and place something of eternal value in front of our eyes more often: His Word, His presence in prayer. Let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

And be careful. You might think there’s no harm in looking, but the truth is that our actions follow the stuff our eyes are fixed on. So fix your eyes on Him and His Word.

— Adam Pivec
5/9/2009