But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!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!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 the darkness!
5 sermons cite this verse
… circumstances, but we have a God who says, behold, I am doing a new thing. Can you see it? I love Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter six and verse 22 and 23. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. If your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body is full of darkness. Jesus understood something. What has your attention eventually shapes your perspective. What am I focused on? What am I looking at every day? What am I allowing to shape my perspective? What gets in your eyes affects your marriage. What gets in your eyes affects your parenting. What gets in your eyes affects your hope. It affects your faith. It affects your ability to recognize what God is doing. And I find it so interesting that God would ask a question like this after a verse and a promise like this. …
… Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. All right, this is so interesting. So he's making the same statement, the same point he made in just a moment ago when he talked about what you treasure. Now he's making that same point using a different metaphor. So in this case, the metaphor he's using is the eye and what you're letting into your body. So the eye is the lamp of the body. And scholars debate exactly what did Jesus mean by that? That's kind of a strange thing. How is the eye the lamp of the body? …
… jesus in the sermon on the mount talks about how important your eye is what you look at he says 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 if then the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness so what's the problem in the garden what's the problem in AI? What's the problem with Achan in the plunder? It's desiring something that God forbids. It's desiring something more than God. The fruit wasn't the problem in the garden. There was plenty of fruit in the garden. The silver and gold aren't a real issue here. Well, how do you know? Read chapter eight, verse two, they go finally take AI. After there is repentance, they go battle again and they take Ai easily. And in chapter, in verse two of chapter eight, God tells them, you can take all the plunder you want. Take it home. It's not about the silver. …
… come with making the wrong thing your treasure. He goes on to say this in the same passage. He says, 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 unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? What does he mean? What is he talking about? He's talking about what you focus your attention on, what you're looking for, what you're looking at. This is your mental horsepower as well as what you're allowing into your mind through the eyes. What you're focused on, what you're looking at, ends up either a reflection of the light that's already inside of you, or it ends up destroying the light inside of you and fills you with darkness. What is it that consumes you? What is it that you're really focused on? If you think about it, this is what matters most to me. …
… If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 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! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. There are three basic truths in these passages that I have read to you. Many things, but three basic truths. Truth number one, we must possess real wealth. We must possess real wealth if we would be successful in life. Look again in verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now, there are many people who think that they're wealthy who are not. It's a strange thing. We see on television the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and really, and many times, it's the lifestyle of the rich and foolish. …