Matthew 6:22-23 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!
We were recently talking with some parents about the challenges they face in getting their kids to listen. They relayed a story of when their youngest son asked if he could have a piece of candy. They said yes, but he had convinced himself they would say no, so even when they answered affirmatively, he flew into a full-blown tantrum! He literally heard what he thought he would hear, not what they actually said.
I think we adults may not be much different (except for the overt tantrum part). How often do we let preconceived notions cloud or distort our perceptions? We judge someone to be hypocritical, and interpret their every action through that lens. We think someone is “out to get us” and put up defenses when we see them coming, actually provoking their rejection. The art of making presumptions seems to be endless (or should I say bottomless?) in an increasingly polarized world.
We need more than Visine™ to clear our vision.
Jesus said the “eye is the lamp of the body.” Our misperceptions taint our souls and create a great darkness. He said if we want to maintain “healthy eyes,” we have to welcome the light of truth, even truth we neither expect nor want.
Shakespeare coined the phrase, “The eye is the window of the soul.” We can’t reflect light when our soul entertains darkness. Or when our view of God has become so distorted that we can’t hear his message of affirmation, of hope, of love.
So don’t let your perceptions of other people or of God go unchecked. Let truth filter anything that might tarnish your soul. A lot of people these days are treating truth like a condiment. Use it if it enhances what you want to believe. Set it aside if it doesn’t. We can’t allow the culture’s conceptions of right and wrong, justice and empathy, boldness and humility, cloud our vision.
Friend, I pray you always cherish the truth. And let light fill the view from your window.