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 Jeremiah 33:3 I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which he takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as he is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other. Daily Light on the Daily Path Luke 1:53 "HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS; And sent away the rich empty-handed.Revelation 3:17-19 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, • I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. • 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Isaiah 41:17 "The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. Psalm 81:10 "I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Isaiah 55:2 "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 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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