A recent eye examine revealed that I am practically blind in my right eye. The culprit is a large cataract in my eye that is blurring my vision daily. Subsequently, for the second time in three years I will be having surgery to hopefully improve and repair this condition. For someone who writes daily and desperately wants to pursue a career as a Hollywood screen writer, the odds are stacked against. When you find yourself devoid of light, unable to see what you’re reading or about to type, my future seems bleak.
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a cellar nor under a basket [hiding the light], but [instead it is put] on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God’s word], Luke 11:33-34.
In the passage above, Jesus compares eyes to the lamp of the human body. The goal is to place yourself into ideal positions, able to see every angle of what’s happening around you. Just as fashion designers put lighting to highlight certain aspects of a new home, eyes were created by God to provide spiritual discernment and perception. The more you focus on God, the clearer things become in life, resulting in good choices. However, the moment you allow spiritual blindness to enter your life and persist, lives can spin out of control. Thus, decision making is like being in a fog, devoid of light to lead you out of this darkness.
Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness. 36 So if your whole body is illuminated, with no dark part, it will be entirely bright [with light], as when the lamp gives you light with its bright rays,” Luke 11:35-36.
Beginning in the Old Testament, authors referred to the Bible or Word of God as a source of light. Amy Grant and Michael Card once sang about this truth in the song Thy Word. The chorus is straight out of scripture, Psalm 119:105. God’s Word is like an old oil lamp shinning light into the darkness of night. Although you may not know where to go initially, wise teachings serve as a light to direct and guide your feet. While I am anxious about my upcoming eye surgery the last week in November, I do have the promises within the Bible to keep me hopeful. As I struggle with the possibility of being devoid of human light, seeing, I know my heavenly father has a plan for me to get me through this period of darkness.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 