Eyes of Light
“The eye
is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole
body will be full of light.”
Jesus
(Matthew 6:22-American Bible Translation)
The Berean Study Bible
translates this scripture as: “...if your vision is clear, then
your whole body will be full of light.” In other words, if you see
things clearly, then you will be filled with light. It continues by
stating that if your vision is dark, your whole body will be filled
with darkness. Perhaps this is 1st century
psychology/theology for saying that it is the way we look at things
that makes them either light or dark—that our perception is key.
Many things happening in
our world today could be used as examples of this truth. One of those
is the immigration crisis that is spreading around the globe. We can
look at immigrants as human beings who are trying to make life safe
and better for themselves and their children, or we can see them as
leeches who are sucking the blood out of us. We hear both these views
today in equal measure. We can see them as being just like us,
wanting the same things we do, or we can see them as wanting to take
what we have and leave us empty handed. And how do they see us? Is
their vision clear? Do they see us as kind, understanding of their
plight and willing to reach out a helping hand, or do they see us as
hateful door-slammers and wall-builders, who don't care whether they
live or die? Light and darkness.
This scripture from
Matthew goes on to say, “If the light within you is darkness, then
how great is that darkness.” We can turn on the light within and
without by changing our vision, by changing our perception. It's up
to us as to whether our eyes are lamps of light, or lamps of
darkness.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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