Our Eyes

There are a lot of places where Scripture talks about our eyes. They're very important. Jesus even talked about our eyeballs in the Sermon on the Mount. In this passage He tells us that our lives follow our eyes. What we look at is ultimately the direction of our hearts. 

In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus asks us to think about where we're focusing.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 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!"

This concept is significant: Jesus is showing us how this motion of our lives is defined. The direction of our lives is really affected by our eyes. Jesus is telling us that what we look at and where we focus is ultimately who we become! We are ultimately pulled in the direction of the things we see, and the direction we move is ultimately the person we become.

It all starts with our eyes.

This is something that we know, but we often don’t act on. This is probably not something we think about often, but I think this truth that Jesus is pointing us towards is something we already know is true. Here’s how I know that:

Cereal. Think about the cereal aisle at the grocery store.

What Jesus tells us about our eyes is also the reason that Fruit Loops aren't on the bottom shelf. You don't have to stoop down to pick up a box of Lucky Charms. Where are they? Eye-level. That’s because big cereal companies know that what you see, you desire, and what you desire you start moving towards– and what you move towards, you get. They do this! They line the kid’s cereals at eye-level for an eight year old! The expensive stuff ends up in the prime, eye-level spot, while the off-brand imitators live on the bottom shelf where no one looks. Grocery stores know the same thing Jesus knows: where we look is where we end up.

It is so easy for us to be dragged into sin by what we see. Our eyes lead us straight to jealousy, sexual sin, and foolish choices. It's easy to understand how this concept works in the negative direction.

But listen to how Jesus starts the verse with this concept: Look at the beginning of verse 22:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”

Do you hear the good news of that verse? Jesus is saying that it works the other way too. When we look, dwell, and focus on impure things we’re dragged away into impurity. But if we will focus on Jesus, we will move in His direction. The way we make our bodies healthy and our lives healthy is by keeping our EYES healthy.

What can you do today to have healthy eyes? What if instead of gazing towards things you wish were yours, you gazed on God's Word? Find a way to put Scripture in front of your eyes today. Write it on your mirror, stick it to your fridge, or carry it with you on a notecard. Realize that your life follows your eyes, and strive to make them healthy.