What do your eyes worship?

It is  spring in Southwest Ohio.  With the spring comes the battle of the eyes.   It becomes apparent to me that I can become lazy with my eyes.  What I look at can quickly become an unhealthy focus. I searched “eye” in Logos and learned that it is mentioned 533 times in the New Testament. This is an important organ.  Matthew 6:22,23 says, “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!”  As Hagner states, “There are 2 eyes discussed in this passage. The πονηρός eye is the “evil eye” of Near Eastern cultures—an eye that enviously covets what belongs to another, a greedy or avaricious eye^.”  The context seems to indicate material wealth. Yet it could also be applied in a broader sense to include anything that one looks at to covet.  Hagner continues, “Metaphorically speaking, a generous eye or the single eye of discipleship is the source of light; an evil, covetous eye is the source of darkness.” The challenge for me is to evaluate where have my eyes been focusing lately? Often, my eyes focus on something I wish I had.  Gary Thomas gives these four concepts to help transform our eyes:

1.     Ask God to give you light. God-sight is a God-gift. Psalm 13:3 is a great prayer, “ Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep with death.”

2.     Make a covenant with your eyes. Job declared, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1

3.     Train Your Eyes. Psalm 19:8 “The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”

4.     Worship with your eyes. Psalm 141:8 “My eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord.”

Today, let’s remember the power of the eye and focus on the Lord.