One Look

"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 then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23

Our eyes can get us into a lot of trouble sometimes. If we fail to see a stop sign we might crash. If we look too much at a computer screen we get headaches. If we look at someone to hard or too long or not in a way they understand they might thing we're creepers. The list can go on forever. Yet even though subconsciously we all know this, I can't say for myself that I've ever actually sat down and though of how profound this truth is. 

Speaking literally, our eyes (apart from our heart and desires) are one of the first things to cause us to stumble or fall morally. There are countless examples of affairs that have started all because of one glace, one look, that leads to ungodly thoughts and then into actions. There are millions all over the world right now who are addicted to things such as pornography or explicit literature, all because of what seemed to be one harmless look that triggered something far greater inside the human brain than they ever thought possible. It only takes one look to end a friendship or a marriage; one look to start a lifelong addiction. A failure to look at the warning signs of a struggling friend that ends up in suicide; a failure to look at the people you surround yourself with that continue to drag you down deeper. 

One look or a failure to look holds extreme power to dictate the trajectory of our lives.

Even figuratively, the lenses in which we see our world projects the direction of our lives. If I choose to look at things that happen in my daily life as interruptions, frustrations, and obligations then its pretty likely I will live a miserable, defeated life. But if I instead choose to see through new eyes the whole atmosphere of my life changes. I start to see that the things set before me are actually invitations into a greater life, opportunities to work out the areas that I struggle with (patience! can I get a witness!?), and commitments are callings that I get to do instead of things I have to do. 

And now I see why Paul so stressed for us to "...fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:12) Because it is only when we consistently keep our eyes on Jesus, that they tend not to wander on to other things that seek to destroy us. It is only when our eyes are focused on him that we can see our world through his eyes, and it is only when we see through his eyes that we can reach out to the hurting and helpless around us. 

So let us fix our eyes on Jesus and never look back. 

Harassed and Helpless

"When Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matt 9:36

I read this and think of how different a picture we have of this today. Judgmental and hateful people pointing their fingers at a lost, broken, and hurting world all while claiming the name of Christ. People who profess Jesus with their mouths but not by sharing his compassion. Churches that shout hate against culture and celebrities because of their values and morals, when we cannot expect unbelievers to live under standards to which they do not believe or yet even understand.

I think Jesus looks at the crowds today in the same eyes as he did in the gospel of Matthew, with compassion, knowing that they were harassed and helpless. Yet it breaks my heart to know that generally speaking it is the Church today that has done much of that harassing.

Should we not have a heart of compassion as our Savior did? Should we not strive to share and show this compassion to people who WE don't understand (Jesus understands them), people who are different than us, who hold different opinions and values, who live a lifestyle that we know little about.

Live a life of love. And remember that you were once one of those harassed and helpless. If not by the grace of God.