Truth and Light

"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body will be filled with light." Matthew 6:22

Matthew Six is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Jesus is speaking the whole time, and He has so many great things to say. He talks about prayer. He talks about how to receive God's blessings. He reminds us we don't need to worry because God will always take care of us. He takes a complicated religious system and simplifies it to one rule: 'Trust God; He is your loving Father who will never overlook your needs or your deeds.'

The majority of the chapter is straightforward. He gives practical, take-home advice. Anyone listening to Him speak would not have to question what He meant, but He does get in one metaphor that takes some thought to consider. "Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body." He makes a connection between our perspective and our actions. The "why" behind the choices we make. It involves more than following instructions. It involves understanding why He gives those instructions.

He says, 'Don't do things to please people or be noticed by them.' Why? People are difficult to impress, they don't pay much attention, and their praise is short-lived. If that's what you're living for, you will be disappointed.

He says to trust God. Why? Because God is trustworthy. He always provides, always rewards, and always sees. He sees you in your desperate hour. He sees you in your effort to love, give, and forgive. If you are trusting Him, He doesn't miss that, and He can't let you down. If you are living to walk in His ways, the reward is guaranteed, not as a payment for dutiful service and being "good", but as a cause-and-effect blessing.  He only asks us to do what is best for us anyway!

"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body."  How do you view God? How do you view His ways?  How do you view yourself? If your perspective is correct, you will be filled with light. If your perspective is false, you will live in darkness. If you are feeling depressed, worthless, and ugly, you are not living in the truth that you are loved and valued by God and others. If you are feeling guilty, ashamed, and like a bad person, you are not living in the truth you have been forgiven and can move on from where you've been to all God has for you. If you are feeling like you're not good enough and not doing enough for God, you are not living in the truth of His unconditional love and grace that always accepts you right where you're at. If you are feeling confused, lonely, or stressed, you are not living in the truth of Jesus' invitation: "Come to Me...and I will give you rest...My burden is light." (Mt. 11:28-30)

I don't need to tell you what you struggle with. You know. But do you know why you struggle? What are you not believing about God? What are you not believing about yourself and who He has made you to be? Step out of the darkness and into the light. Out of the lies and into the truth: God is love; His ways are best; And you are His treasured possession...valuable and worth dying for. His greatest desire is to raise you to new life that lives every moment in the reality of His love.

I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.

Psalm 40:1-3

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.