You know the feeling when the sun is shining, you've just bought the perfect piece for your outfit, dinner was delicious and with great people and you are on your way home to read before you fall asleep..., and then you get a text saying that you need to come up with a certain solution by tomorrow/ the team building karaoke gets cancelled because so many people can't make it/ you come home and find a bill for something you'd forgotten to pay months ago/ somebody puts you down in front of other people... ?
Good feelings gone. And you know exactly whose fault it is, and you struggle to forgive them...
But..
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mt 6:22-23
It is easy to observe an unpleasant situation take place and call it bad and feel bad about it. It is natural.
But Jesus calls us to have the eyes of faith. Basically, it depends on our attitude when we observe something. Imagine your eyes were actual lights, shining out of your head. ...OK, I realize this is a little absurd, but this is what he says.
When the light is shining directly into the thing you are looking at, that thing is clear. Then what we see, we interpret in the perspective of that clarity.
If we take the metaphor further, and say that what shines out of our eyes is God's light, we see things in His perspective. We interpret things from His perspective. That interpretation is good for us, and fills us with God's light.
But if our attitude is not shining God's light on the situation, Jesus says that not only our eyes are impaired, but our interpretation as well. For, how can we see things correctly in the dark? That interpretation is therefore wrong, and bad for us. And it increases the dark.
Whether the light in our eyes is on or off, depends on us alone.
Think about it. Whose fault is it really that our good feelings are gone?
I'm not saying that we should be always smiling like everything is peachy keen, even when heavier drama comes into our lives.
But we can always make sure that we see things in God's light. It may not work the first time. God knows that. Consider:
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
1 Tim 4:7-9 (emphasis added)
'Train yourself to be godly' implies a process. Sure, it starts with a decision, but training takes time, it's a continual follow-up on that decision, involves baby steps and perseverance, perhaps considerable time before we see the fruit of that training.
And yet, Paul says that even the training itself has value. It seems that the promises of this life and the one to come are just a bonus!
Train yourself to see things in God's light. What better way is there to observe this world, than from God's perspective? Love the process. Give yourself a mental high-five every time you see a spark of improvement. Keep training.
I've sort of started this training in November last year. Every time I saw myself keeping my cool in an unpleasant situation, I was encouraged to keep trying, as it always seemed I'm almost "there". The thing is, I have gotten a lot better in keeping the faith, but the more I learn, the more I see that I am in no immediate danger of perfection. But I also see more clearly how much God rejoices when we take on this journey. Because it's a journey with His son.
Meditate on Mt 6:22-23
Decide to radiate light when life catches you by surprise, and allow Jesus to show you life according to God.
Observe wonders and praise Him for it.
Co-written by Alena, Düsseldorf
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