Bible League: Living His Word "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness."— Matthew 6:22-23 NIV What we see has an impact on our lives in many ways. Our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions, just to name a few, are impacted by what we see. That's why focus is important. It's important to focus our eyes in the right way. We can decide what to focus on and what to ignore. It only makes sense, then, that we would decide to focus in ways that will help us and not hurt us. It makes sense to make good use of our eyes. If our eyes are healthy, that is, if our focus is well aimed, then we will see things in their proper context and perspective. We will see things in the way they were meant to be seen. In this context, Jesus has just spoken about laying up treasures in heaven. So we must see our possessions and entertainments in light of eternity. Then our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions will be on target with God's will for us. We will live lives of proper meaning and purpose. We won't emphasize the temporal and disregard the eternal. Life is good for those who keep a proper perspective on it. Jesus follows this verse by saying that no one can serve two masters. I If our eyes are not aimed rightly, then we will view money and possessions in the wrong context and perspective. We won't see them in the way they were meant to be seen. As a result, our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions will be off target. Instead of living lives of proper meaning and purpose, we will live lives out of kilter with God's will. Life is an endless race for those who do not have a proper perspective on it. The point is, then, to have our eyes checked. We should ask God, the great eye doctor, to heal our eyes and fill our hearts with the eternal perspective, so that we will see things the way they were meant to be seen. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 15, 16 Proverbs 15 -- A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 16 -- The plans of the heart belong to man; Answer of the tongue is from the Lord. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 1 2 Corinthians 1 -- God Comforts All; Paul's Change in Plans NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.'Insight God is known in his creation, and he is close to every one of us. But he is not trapped in his creation—he is transcendent. God is the Creator, not the creation. This means that God is sovereign and in control, while at the same time he is close and personal. Challenge Let the Creator of the universe rule your life. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Revelation 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment.These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be around the throne. In the passage in Canticles, where Solomon sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it "a round table." From this, some expositors, I think, without straining the text, have said, "There is an equality among the saints." That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of the four and twenty elders. The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is that of nearness to Christ, clear vision of his glory, constant access to his court, and familiar fellowship with his person: nor is there any difference in this respect between one saint and another, but all the people of God, apostles, martyrs, ministers, or private and obscure Christians, shall all be seated near the throne, where they shall forever gaze upon their exalted Lord, and be satisfied with his love. They shall all be near to Christ, all ravished with his love, all eating and drinking at the same table with him, all equally beloved as his favorites and friends even if not all equally rewarded as servants. Let believers on earth imitate the saints in heaven in their nearness to Christ. Let us on earth be as the elders are in heaven, sitting around the throne. May Christ be the object of our thoughts, the centre of our lives. How can we endure to live at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesus, draw us nearer to thyself. Say unto us, "Abide in me, and I in you;" and permit us to sing, "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me." O lift me higher, nearer thee, And as I rise more pure and meet, O let my soul's humility Make me lie lower at thy feet; Less trusting self, the more I prove The blessed comfort of thy love. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped.Psalm 94:18 If I should say, "My foot has slipped," Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. Luke 22:31,32 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; • but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Proverbs 24:16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity. Psalm 37:24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me. Job 5:19 "From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you. 1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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