How’s Your Eye? – Be Single Minded

Luke 11:34 (NKJV)

“The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.”

I’ve heard it said that “perception is everything”. I used to think that was true but that has changed. Only reality is everything. Perception matters to an individual or group of people, but how they “perceive” a situation is not always how it really is. Reality is what is real.

Have you ever known someone who is overly critical? Someone who, no matter the circumstance, there is always something wrong with someone or something. No thing and no one is perfect, but some have a unique ability to find fault in just about everything. In reality, everything has room for improvement but there is still good. Unfortunately, that good part is overlooked because something inside drives these people to see the negative instead of the positive. That ends up being the default view of their eye.

Maybe you know someone who seems to over-sexualize everything. Someone who sees every person as primarily a sexual being and always has a lustful or inappropriate comment. The “normal” adjective applied to individuals who can’t control this means of perception would be “pervert” because they see everything through a perverted tint. In reality, we are all much more than that. We are image bearers of God and this is how we should view each other. But something inside these people drives them to view others in a perverted way. It is the default view of their eye.

I could list many other examples but I think you get the picture. How we see things sheds light on what is on the inside. What we see is colored by what and how we think. If I think all men are jerks then that impacts my perception of men – that’s my eye. If I think all women are emotional children, then that impacts my perception of women – that’s my eye. The mind is the roadmap for our eye. We can’t help but follow it. It becomes who we are. Thus, the eye is the lamp of the body.

How do we course correct our roadmap? God gives direction through Paul in Roman’s 12:2. He says we are to “renew our mind”. We can’t expect to accept every opinion that pops in our minds as true. We have to review those opinions. We need to find the truth about those opinions. Then we must apply that truth and do the work to change our mind about any opinions based on lies or deception. We ask God for help in this because He is the source of any and all good transformation in our lives. Once our mind is changed, our perception changes and we begin to see more clearly. Those who are overly critical or cynical are changed and see a better world around them. Those who have perverted tendencies are set free from the bondage of that mindset and can live cleanly and respectfully with others. The renewed mind is one that allows us to see everything as God would have us see it. The new viewpoint reveals the transformation that has taken place on the inside.

We’re all on a similar path when it comes to this. That is why the foundation of our spirit is so important. It directs every part of us, even and especially how we view the world and our place in it. God can help us renew our minds but we have to put forth the effort. We have to be willing to recognize a need for change and submit to how God wants us to think. In doing that, gradually, we are changed. The transformation inside us is eventually manifested in what we see outside of us. Then, our interaction with those around us is more representative of a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

I want to be that type of person. Someone who allows God to change everything in me, large or small, so that I reflect Jesus and represent Him well. I have a long way to go, but I’m putting in the effort. I want an eye that reveals a life transformed by God. How about you? How’s your eye?