How are your eyes?
Matthew 6:22-23 22 " The lamp of the body is
the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of
light. 23 "But if your
eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
Evil Eyes
Adulterous Eyes
2 Samuel 11:1 It
happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle,
that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at
Here we see that David had evil eyes of adultery
at this time and then he trying to finds
ways to cover up his sin by trying to get Uriah to go to his wife but he would
not. As the story goes he even tries to
get him drunk so that he may go to his wife but he still doesn’t so then David
sends him back to hardest part of the battle there is and tells his men to draw
back and allow him to be killed and then David take Bashsheba for his wife. Of
course this sin did not go unpunished as God tells David that his new baby will
die.
Notice what Jesus about
this topic
Matthew 5:27 "
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit
adultery.' 28 "But I say
to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart.
Envious eye
1 Samuel 18: 7
So the women sang as they danced, and said: "Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands." 8
Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said,
"They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only
thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" 9 So Saul eyed David from that day
forward.
Saul became envious of
David because he killed so many and people were recognizing him for it. Do you
have this kind of eye do you envy people and wish that you were them. They came
up several shows where people are envious of stars and they want to look like them so they will go and have plastic surgery after plastic surgery trying to look
more like them. Notice what the book of Proverbs teaches about envy.
Proverbs 14:30 30 A sound heart is life to
the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones.
Proverbs 23:17 17 Do not let your heart envy
sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
Being envious will lead
to sin according to James.
James 3:16 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist,
confusion and every evil thing are there.
Critical eye.
Matthew 7:3
"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not
consider the plank in your own eye? 4
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your
eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 "Hypocrite! First remove
the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother's eye.
Its easy to be critical
of others. So many today like find small things they can pick out a person they
don’t like and then they will ride it until the break them. You really see this
in politics where they will criticize anything they can to try to make
themselves look better and unfortunately Christians are guilty of this as well.
Instead of loving someone and trying to encouraging them to better they will
talk evil of that person and point out all of their weak points even when that
person saying these things may have exact same weaknesses.
James 4:11-12 11 Do not speak evil of one
another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother,
speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not
a doer of the law but a judge. 12
There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge
another?
We must be careful not
have critical eyes as this will only cause problems and will stunt the growth
of the church.
Covetous Eye
Acts 8:18-23 18 And when Simon saw that through
the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them
money, 19 saying, "Give
me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy
Spirit."
Simon was pretend
magician and he would of loved to have the ability to pass on the Holy Spirit
to others. Perhaps he thought he could make a great deal of money doing such a
thing. Whatever the reason he coveted that power. But notice Peters response.
20
But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought
that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 "You have neither part nor
portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 "Repent therefore of this
your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be
forgiven you. 23 "For I
see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity."
This
in another problem prominent in our society and with Christians. Oh they covet
or desire what they neighbors have or what the see others have on TV. All they
can think about is how they can try lay
their hands on that coveted possession.
Ephesians 5:3 3 But fornication and all
uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting
for saints;
1 Timothy 6:10 For the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have
strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows.
Closed Eye
Matthew 13:14-"And
in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear
and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people
have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have
closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should
heal them.'
Many of the Pharisees
during the 1st century had this problem the did not want to see the
truth because they wanted to live in their own truth. A lot of people are like
this today. They don’t want to see what the word of God says. Instead they want
to live by the philosophy if feels good its got to be right.
Notice what Jesus goes on to say about those
who don’t close their eyes to the
truth.
16 "But blessed are your
eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and
righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and
to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Sometimes
Christians who were once faithful and had their eyes open shut them once again.
2 Peter 1:5-9 5 But also for this very reason,
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness
love. 8 For if these things
are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has
forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Be careful not have closed to the truth or will become lost.
Good Eyes.
Compassionate Eyes
1 Peter 3:8 8 Finally, all of you be of
one mind, having compassion for one
another;
This means that if you
see someone hurting or in need you feel
for that person and will try to do what
you can to help them out. Jesus certainly had compassion on the
multitudes of people that were sick and diseased and held them. Him being our
master example we are to follow in his footsteps and compassion for those
around us.
Luke 10:30 Then
Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.
And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 "Likewise a Levite, when
he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 "But a certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an
inn, and took care of him. 35
"On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to
the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend,
when I come again, I will repay you.'
Strive to have compassionate
eyes
Faithful
Eyes.
Hebrews 11:1 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible
to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that
He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
So if you want to have
the kind of eyes that are pleasing God you must have faithful eyes.
Hebrews 11: 8
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he
would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was
going. 9 By faith he dwelt in
the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city
which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
After all these faithful
people are mentioned The Hebrew writer concludes by saying
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
Sympathetic Eyes
To show sympathy to
another person shows that you love and care about their well being. We have an
example this in John 11 where Lazerus has been dead for 4 days and his sisters
Martha and Mary were grieving.
John 11:32 Then,
when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying
to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have
died." 33 Therefore,
when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned
in the spirit and was troubled. 34
And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord,
come and see." 35 Jesus
wept.
Jesus had sympathy for
them because of the great pain they were experience because of the loss of
their brother even though he knew that he about to raise him from the dead.
This tears of sympathy were a display of Jesus loving heart toward these women.
We to should have sympathy for those around us if we truly have love for one
another.
When Paul was describing
the church as human body he says this in 1 Corinthians
Not
only should we show sympathy to those in the church we should have sympathy for
those who are lost just as Jesus did in
Matthew 23:37 37 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often
I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing!
Hopeful Eyes
Romans 8:18-25 18 For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. 19
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of
the sons of God. 20 For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who
subjected it in hope; 21
because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole
creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we
also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he
sees? 25 But if we hope for
what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
These are the kind of
eyes that every Christian should have because no matter what we go through in
this life we can have hope of a home in heaven.
Philippians 3:20-21 20 For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, 21 who will transform
our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the
working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Lets us never forget the hope we have of living
eternally in heaven.
Open Eyes
Having opens eyes means
that you are will to grow as Christian. A person with open eyes is not stuck in there ways and willing to consider new concepts that they
have never heard of. This type of person is one who does not say I know it all
and nothing you can say will every change my mind. We have a biblical example
of those who open eyes in the NT.
Acts 17:10-12 10 Then the brethren immediately
sent Paul and Silas away by night to
Be like the Bereans and
keep an open mind and test everything against what Bible says.