Daily Bread 1-25-17
Matthew 6:22,23
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
ref. - Ps 119:18 - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
Lk 11:34 - The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
Ro 1:21 - Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
2Cor 4:4 - In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Whether we look at the body being the Church or our own bodies, the explanation of this scripture is very clear. When the focus leaves Christ and becomes focused on anything but Christ we will enter into darkness. Whether it be money, music, companionship, lifestyle, etc. No matter what it is, if our central focus is not on the mercy and grace in Jesus Christ we are chasing after vanity. Pretty soon there will be no Holy Spirit involved but evil will reign in our hearts. In this great warning we need to take heed. It will become praise for man and their devotion or dedication and not praise to God in Jesus Christ. These things, whether in our lives or in the Church, need to come to an end if they are happening or we are in for a great fall. We need to seek for more of God and less of man and his approval. There is no way that we can serve two masters. So it is time to pray to God and ask him, like in the reference Ps 119:18 - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy law. The law that we are under now came from Jesus Christ and we need to have our eyes open to it so that we may be focused on one thing. Jesus Christ. When we can focus on him and not our selves or our own vanities, it will be then that our eyes will be single and full of light. But when we think that we are causing the Spirit to rain down on men or thinking that we have some great power to step into God's shoes we are only chasing after vanity. We want to be seen and heard. Let's get out of the way and let God work through us. Our biggest stumbling block is ourselves and this is why darkness abounds. The god of this world is the devil and he blinds anyone who does not believe in Christ. Even the ones carrying the big Bibles and howling from the pulpit or from behind instruments and microphones. Today, choose which God you will serve; the god of the world(the devil) that leads you to blindness. Or, the God of all things, the almighty God, who will shine the light on us all. Focus brothers and sisters, the time is nearer than we think that our faith will be required of us. Have a great day!!