CHOOSING A LIGHT STANDARD AND NOT A DARK COMPASS
Why do people act the way they do? Matthew
6:22-24 gives us answers to that question. But for most people, this section of
scripture remains a mystery, until one can understand the meaning
of the original words. A Concordance helps with that. Let's take a look at the
passage and then I'll break it down for you. “The light of the body is the eye: if
therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if
thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Verse 24: “No man
can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.”
First let’s look at the word “light” in verse 22.
In the original language, it is a portable candle or oil lamp, one that can be
lit, or it can go out. The next word I looked at was “eye.” Here it used metaphorically, of ethical qualities.
The candle guiding us is
our ethical qualities – our moral standards. Our moral or ethical standards
guide our whole body. The “body” is the whole man—body and soul. What we do
with our body and soul is maneuvered by our moral compass, so to speak. So, if
we carry a lamp that is full of good Biblical morals and ethics, it will guide
us in a good direction. But if that candle burns out, or the wick is pinched,
the good standards slip away and are replaced by other standards that are not
Biblical.
In the second part of verse 22, what does it
mean, “if thine eye be single “? The word single means simple, clear, in which
there is nothing complicated or confused; without folds (not double-minded).
Jesus was saying that if our eyes (ethical qualities) are clear and not
jumbled, our “whole body will be full of light.”
People think they can take some standards from
the Bible, some from Buddhism, some from Hinduism, or Islam, or New Age, or
situational ethics, but if those standards don’t jive with what the God of the
Bible says, there’s going to be double standards, ethical difficulties, and a
confused, jumbled mess. Granted, a person needs to understand what the Bible
actually says, and not just blindly believe what they recall being taught. Asking
questions is perfectly okay with our God, and there are plenty of verses
documenting that.
Verse 23 goes on to say: “But if thine eye be
evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” The word “eye” is again
ethical qualities. The word “evil” is “the Evil one,” so this is saying that if
a person’s ethics are inspired and motivated or manipulated by the evil one,
Satan, then the intent is “wicked, actively bad, actively causing sorrow or
pain.” They are actively “bringing toil, hardships, annoyances, and trouble.”
If moral codes are so deranged, the whole self is
going to be full of darkness. “Full of darkness” is translated from one
word that means covered in darkness, like a tent. Things are opaque; vision is
blinded. Actions are shady and shadowy. There is “ignorance
respecting divine things and human duties.” People whose moral standards begin
to deteriorate, become prey to the Evil one’s ethics, or lack thereof. They
become “persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway.”
And the last part of verse 23 says: “If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The word
“light” in this part of the verse means the light of God. If the light of God
is compromised or extinguished, the darkness can be enormous. The darkness that
exists without the presence of our loving God is the total opposite of light
and goodness.
There are people who have willingly chosen a dark
compass. They worship the devil and believe they come from the line of Cain and
feel they are perfectly justified in murdering, lying, sexual torturing, sacrificing
babies, cannibalizing, and many other unspeakable acts against nature and
humanity. When brought before legal courts of the land, these people declare
with conviction that they’ve done nothing wrong! They have chosen to follow the
ways of darkness and have no decent conscience left. And if they decide to take
into themselves the seed of the devil, according to the Bible, there’s no way
back. They will go with the devil to the lake of fire.
These people who get born of
the seed of the devil existed in Jesus’ time and they exist today. Jesus called
them out plainly in John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth, because there is no truth in him.”
It’s hard for us to imagine that there are people living
who have NO truth in them. And yet here
it is, that Jesus said it to their faces. They have given themselves over to the
devil. They have taken his seed into themselves, and they call him their
father. Their every action is based on serving the devil in some way or other,
to take over the earth, destroy good people, and make a mockery of our God.
Their ways may look altruistic at times, but it is only a counterfeit for some
greater evil that they are planning.
God tells us in
Isaiah 5: 20-21: “Woe
unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for
light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and
prudent in their own sight!”
God has given every individual the ability to
choose. Matthew 6:24 says: “No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The word “mammon” means riches, and as it’s used in this verse it means the live
personification of riches, i.e. the devil.
The word “hate” doesn’t mean
what we think it does. In this verse, it’s a relative preference. It means a
person prefers one over another. He or she cares about serving the interests of
one rather than the other, for whatever reason. A straightforward analysis
would be if a person has two jobs, two bosses, and both want the person to work
on the same Saturday. The worker can’t do both, so he or she analyses the pros and
cons, and picks one.
When Jesus says: “He will hold to the one, and
despise the other,” it means he’ll “hold fast to, cleave to” one, and not
really think much of the other. To “despise” means to” think less of, disdain,
to look down on.”
So we can see in Matthew 6:24 that a person doesn’t
have to be sold out to Satan or born of the devil’s seed, to be walking in darkness.
But making decisions based on power or money or our own pleasures, putting any
motivation higher than doing God’s will, isn’t going to work out the best for
our lives.
We can’t be disciples of the Lord and get all the
benefits if we play in the devil’s sandbox. And the consequences just aren’t
worth it. Darkness perpetuated out from a person will eventually come back
around to destroy that person.
Let’s fall to the feet of our merciful God and
learn what it means to truly surrender all to Him. Mark 8:25 says: “Then again Jesus laid His hands on his eyes; and the
man stared intently and [his sight] was [completely] restored, and he began to
see everything clearly.”
With so much confusion entering
our cultures, lots of people really aren’t totally sure of what God’s moral
standards really are, or they’ve never been taught. So we get back to reading
the Bible for clarification and that way we aren’t walking around in partial
darkness, but with the Lord’s help we can see clearly.
Mark 10: 29-30 gives us God’s promise: “And Jesus answered and
said, ‘Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for
my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this
time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.’”
Love, Carolyn
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