Tuesday,
Day 6: Matthew 6
Matthew 6 could be a several-week sermon series! Jesus
covers a lot of territory in what has been encapsulated in this one chapter:
giving, prayer, fasting, priorities, worry . . . . This is not an in depth
study so I’m just going to choose one little nugget:
Matthew 6:22-23
“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!”
Today is the first time I have looked at this passage with different eyes. Always before I thought of it in terms of the Truth of the Gospel, and for those who ‘think’ they have truth but don’t, that the light they think they have is actually darkness – and how great the darkness is when it is misconstrued as light . . . . I applied that very quickly to those of specific religions that don’t honor Jesus Christ as God: though light came into the world, they don’t accept Him, and so are in darkness. I also applied it to those whose theology isn’t sound, for various reasons.
But, today I realize it is sandwiched neatly between very distinct clarifications about our relationship with money – and if I am to truly pay attention to context, I have to wonder if the message isn’t actually one reiterating that message: not of theology, but of ‘stuff.’ Could it be that this is saying when our eyes become so accustomed to seeing what is around us and we long for or prioritize inconsequential ‘stuff’ instead of a totally sold-out relationship with God, we are settling for darkness?
If nothing else, it is thought-provoking . . . .
A few years ago I sat in a seven-million dollar home in a gathering, and the owner of the home said, “If I lose it all and still have Jesus I will still have everything.” It was a stunning statement. One I have mulled over many times. I love God’s blessings of home and family - and general good health (so far) – but also have to acknowledge that the man who spoke those words spoke truth: “If I lose it all and still have Jesus, I have everything.” Nothing else will leave this world with me – but Him!
Lord, thank you for your blessings. Help me always keep them in perspective, and Lord, let your light shine into me and through me. Dispel any wrong ways of thinking or feeling that could be darkness.
Humor for today:
A little boy visiting his grandma was playing in her bedroom. “Grandma,” he said, “You know how you told me we come from dust and return to dust?”
Matthew 6:22-23
“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!”
Today is the first time I have looked at this passage with different eyes. Always before I thought of it in terms of the Truth of the Gospel, and for those who ‘think’ they have truth but don’t, that the light they think they have is actually darkness – and how great the darkness is when it is misconstrued as light . . . . I applied that very quickly to those of specific religions that don’t honor Jesus Christ as God: though light came into the world, they don’t accept Him, and so are in darkness. I also applied it to those whose theology isn’t sound, for various reasons.
But, today I realize it is sandwiched neatly between very distinct clarifications about our relationship with money – and if I am to truly pay attention to context, I have to wonder if the message isn’t actually one reiterating that message: not of theology, but of ‘stuff.’ Could it be that this is saying when our eyes become so accustomed to seeing what is around us and we long for or prioritize inconsequential ‘stuff’ instead of a totally sold-out relationship with God, we are settling for darkness?
If nothing else, it is thought-provoking . . . .
A few years ago I sat in a seven-million dollar home in a gathering, and the owner of the home said, “If I lose it all and still have Jesus I will still have everything.” It was a stunning statement. One I have mulled over many times. I love God’s blessings of home and family - and general good health (so far) – but also have to acknowledge that the man who spoke those words spoke truth: “If I lose it all and still have Jesus, I have everything.” Nothing else will leave this world with me – but Him!
Lord, thank you for your blessings. Help me always keep them in perspective, and Lord, let your light shine into me and through me. Dispel any wrong ways of thinking or feeling that could be darkness.
Humor for today:
A little boy visiting his grandma was playing in her bedroom. “Grandma,” he said, “You know how you told me we come from dust and return to dust?”
“Yes,
dear,” she responded.
“Well,
Grandma,” he observed, “ I just looked under your bed - and someone’s either
coming or going.”
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