“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 bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” – Matthew 6:22-23
Lamps provide illumination. They light our path. If our eyes are the “lamp” of the body, how we “see” things is the difference between our life’s path being illuminated and safe from a misstep or serious fall or darkened and certain of terrible, even fatal error. So how do you see things?
In John 4:35 it is written, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Jesus clearly delineates between two perspectives about the harvest. The first perspective is man’s, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest?” The second perspective is God’s, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Man sees the harvest as four months out. God sees it as bursting with readiness to be harvested now. Big difference in perspective! Man sees one thing; God sees something entirely different.
RAM teaches its summer missions participants that a defining characteristic of ministry is “Perspective.” We pose the question to our team members, “Do you see things through your eyes or the eyes of God?” We then ask the next obvious question(s), “How do we see what God sees?” “Where do we find God’s perspective?” The answer is the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, His thoughts, the very heart and mind of our Creator, the Truth. If we want to know God’s perspective, we must turn to the Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17; Isaiah 55:8-11).
It is alarming how rapidly American society has “dumbed” down and nearly lost its ability to think critically. Not to be critical, but to ask questions, examine the evidence, explore the “truth” behind all the information we are relentlessly bombarded with in this Information Age. Much of America has bought the lie that truth is relative. There are no absolutes. And worse, many have become so inebriated with the pursuit of pleasure, that even if they believed in absolute truth, there is little to no interest in putting forth the effort to pursue it.
As alarming as this dumbing down of our society is, more frightening is how infrequently we Christians today search the Scriptures for the truth. The church is filled with professing followers of Christ who spend their time and fill their minds with meaningless information and godless diversions rather than searching the Scriptures with an open mind and open heart to discover God’s perspective. Too many sermons have become like Wonder Bread instead of the Bread of Life: Mostly air and leaving its hearers to wonder, “What was that?” We have lost, or perhaps never even discovered, a love and hunger for the heart and mind of our Creator! What greater satisfaction, fulfillment and peace to our souls could we discover than knowing the mind and heart of the God who lovingly made us for fellowship with Him?
Someone once said, “Perspective is everything.” They spoke the truth. The perspective that will bring liberating illumination to our life’s path is the truth of God’s word, the Scriptures. “Father, enable us to recognize there is a difference between how we see things and how You see things. Open our eyes to see what You see and lead us in the light of Your truth, Your perspective with a continual hunger and desire for more! And Lord, may we pray for every disciple of Jesus, just as it is written in Your word:
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” – Ephesians 1:16-18