Laser Beam Eyes

Matthew 6:19-24 NIV:

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Today we have a writer we first featured in June of last year. We again happened upon Jamin Bradley a few days ago, and his writing led us to the excerpt we did from CommonPrayer.net although we made a note to circle back to his own writing. A Free Methodist pastor, he has written eight books, recorded a number of albums, and started three alternative churches. His blog features AI-generated images. Clicking the header which follows will let you read this where we found it.

Guard Your Eyeball Lightbeams

Up until the 1500s, it was thought that eyes actually emitted or projected something like light or energy. This energy wasn’t as extravagant as an X-Men superpower, but ancient people certainly believed there was a power of sorts in the eyes. Indeed, they believed that you could basically curse someone by casting an “Evil Eye” on them—a glance to which pregnant mothers, newborn babies, and children were especially susceptible. This kind of look was thought to be widespread enough that some Jewish teachers in the early first centuries claimed that, “Out of one hundred persons, ninety-nine die of an Evil Eye.”

Throughout the Bible, there are at least 24 references to the evil eye, with a few of those references coming from Jesus himself. In his famous Sermon on the Mount, he says something that often confuses us: “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 evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Many modern readers are taken aback by this teaching. How is the eye a lamp? How can eyes be evil? The answer is found in the ancient conception of the eyes, as they were thought to emanate what’s inside of us and project it out, kind of like a lamp or a lighthouse. I know it sounds odd to us, but just as your tongue exclaims the good or evil and blessings or curses that live inside of you, so would ancient people say that your eyes emit the light or darkness inside of you.

While we know that this is not scientifically how eyes work, maybe you can still admit that you’ve fallen under the good or evil glances of another person (or even given such glances yourself). We’ve all noticed throughout the pandemic that we don’t need to see the bottom half of someone’s face to know how they feel about us. We can feel all kinds of good and evil expressions through the eyes of others: kindness, enjoyment, judgment, sensitivity, seduction, rage, and much more. How little we would be able to comprehend someone’s full feelings without their eyes. Though our eyes may only scientifically be receptacles, we must admit that we’ve felt their spiritual-like emissions one way or another.

I’ve had one friend strangely mention several times that I have “kind-Jesus-eyes,” which they sometimes struggle to look at when kindness is not what they think they should receive. But the eyes of Jesus are the exact kind of eyes we Christians are to strive for. For if Jesus was the light of the world, then the kind of light that emanated from his glance is the same kind of light we should pour out on other people—and that’s a teaching that our angry and judgmental world could probably use more of.

So in conclusion: In ancient thinking, your eye is a lamp, so it should naturally pour out the light that is within you, blessing those around you. But if you instead are filled with evil, you will emit darkness instead. Erase the darkness and be like Jesus—be light. You already know that as a Christian you are to guard your tongue—now guard what you say with your eyes as well.

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*This devotional was created out of the themes of Matthew 6:19-24 found in today’s reading at CommonPrayer.net. My research on the “Evil Eye” here is taken from John H. Elliot’s book, Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World. Volume 1. “Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.”

A Beauty Not Found in Open Fields or Peaceful Days

Six months ago I remember being struck by the quality of writing of Sarah Jo who writes at Blind Insanity. Yesterday I returned there and read several articles. I kept coming back to this one. Click the title to read at source, and then take a few minutes to pick another item or two read and enjoy.

There is Light on this Side of the Clouds

For most of my young adult life, I lived in a bedroom with two big windows; one looking to the east, where a big bush blocked most of the light and the view, and another looking to the south, toward an open field.

On beautiful days, I would sit outside my south window, and look out on the beautiful world God had made.

From that vantage point, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the world. I could sing, write, read, cry, and just rest in the presence of Jesus… But it’s been a long time since I had Jesus-time there, and the view from my current window is a lot less beautiful, yet I know this is exactly where God wants me to be.

There is a beauty that does not rest in open fields or peaceful days.

There is a beauty that abides, steadfast, like an ancient mountain or a deep, God-made lake.

Though many years of storms, droughts, and any number of natural disasters may seek to overcome those forces of nature, yet they remain. Just like those physical things, the love and grace that comes from Jesus is not shaken by any circumstance or state of existence.

He is the Master of the storms and an anchor in the midst of them, and when I feel stuck, He is the wind in my sails.

The view from my window will change, but my Savior never does. The same God that met me by the south field meets me in my office, in my living room, or in one of the many parks I frequent.

I feel like you should know something about this post… It probably would have taken a very different bent, but God literally shined through my window, and I couldn’t think of anything else, but the fact that He is here. Though rain clouds have disguised the sun for the past five days, yet the sun decided to poke through the clouds just as I typed, “and the view from my current window is a lot less beautiful.”

I saw the light touch my hands, and noticed my office brighten, and then I looked up through my window and noticed a patch of blue sky just below a sun that was no longer hidden (except for being hidden by a blind).

It was like God was saying, “You have no idea what beauty is. You pretend to know, and You have even thanked me for beautiful things, but let Me remind You that beauty is found in Me, and not in what your eyes can see.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.¹

From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ God understands the way to it, and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when He made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then He saw it and declared it; He established it, and searched it out. And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”²

It’s amazing what happens when the light shines in.

There are a lot of people living in dark rooms, and they think God isn’t there, or that He can’t reach them there. But, oh, how little they know.

Right now, the world is enshrouded in shadows, but that does not mean the Light has not come or is not present.

If our eyes can recognize earthly beauty, how much more beautiful is the Creator of that beauty? It doesn’t matter how dark or dirty this world becomes, because the One Who made it, and breathed it into life, did not make a mistake by making it.

He made the world and humankind to be good, perfect, and holy.

The first created man and woman walked with Jesus, unashamed, but they chose to disobey the one command He gave. They traded in perfection and holiness for sweat, hard work, and death.

It was a choice they made.

Adam and Eve said, “Yes,” to the darkness, and then they only wanted to hide in shame. But Jesus, in tender love and mercy, called out to them. He knew where they were and He knew what they had done, but He wanted them to join Him, tell Him what they had done, and find their hope in Him.

That same choice is laid before every human being; whether to say, “Yes” or “No” to the darkness. Unfortunately, a lot of people have chosen to say, “Yes,” and the evidence of that is in every tainted thing. But beauty still abides.

Jesus, the Savior of the world, lives.

He knocks on the door of every heart, but there are some who get stuck at the window. They don’t want to believe that the Son is just outside their cages of sin. They don’t want the sun to peak through the clouds and reveal the ugliness of the world they are wallowing in. But it is so much better to abide in God’s fold, to eat at His table, and to have the amazing gift to see the world as it will be when Jesus comes again.

In that beautiful and terrible day, every wall and window will be stripped away, Jesus will shine through the clouds, and the whole world will see His glory.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

Dear Jesus, I know You see the souls that are enshrouded in darkness. Please step in and deliver them. Set them free and may their eyes be blessed to see Your goodness and beauty in the land of the living. Amen.

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References

1. Hebrews 11:1
2. Job 28:20-28

Nature Reflects Spiritual Truth

As a general rule here, we begin with text. Next, we move into exposition or commentary on that text. Hopefully, the writers end with a practical application.

It’s not so at every website or blog online. Many begin with stories. Sometimes the stories are related somehow, but there is a danger when the story comes first and then text is squeezed in at the end to suit a predetermined message. We ought to allow the text to speak.

However, sometimes we find stories based on realities of life in the natural world. These are often stronger illustrations as the natural world often mirrors truths in the spiritual world and I truly believe that from the moment of creation, God left us these parallels to discover.

Our online friends Stephen and Brooksyne Weber deal with this in Friday’s devotional at DailyEncouragement.net and while you need to link to read the entire piece, here is the part where they address this issue directly with a rather interesting example. But first, their text:

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:21). “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

…Those reading this material over time realize I have a tendency to learn lessons in the regular stuff of life and I recall a spiritual lesson that goes way back to that old brick dormitory. Now I want to warn you that some may find this particular illustration distasteful.

If you were to get up in the night to use the bathroom as soon as you turned on the bathroom light you’d see roaches of all sizes, mostly mammoth, scurrying to cover. Brooksyne recalls that the girl’s dorm also had this interesting educational feature, perhaps a real living illustration for those preparing for the mission field.

In the Gospel of John, he made an association between this Scripture and our scurrying roach observation. “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:21). Now roaches are not evil (although I sure wouldn’t care to gather them as pets). They are just creatures doing what they were created to do, however distasteful we may find it. They live and do their deeds in the darkness.

That’s not God’s design for His special creation. We were created to live in His light. A foundational aspect of the redemptive work of Christ is marvelously described in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

Next time you see a roach, consider the contrast of light and darkness – remember God calls you to live in His wonderful light and to carry out deeds that are viewed favorably in the light of day!