Seeing the Light
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
The passages surrounding Luke 11 allow us a peek into what was on Jesus's mind as He went about His ministry work and what God wants us to learn from these verses.
Right before Luke 11 starts Jesus is having His famous conversation with Mary and Martha about prioritizing God above practical matters and social conventions when necessary (Luke 10:38-42). Then He shows the tenderness of our Father's heart towards us when we pray (vs 1-11) and warns against hypocrisy and complacency by saying a divided kingdom can't stand (vs 17). Jesus follows this up in the next chapter with the parable of the rich fool whose obsession with his personal comfort and worldly riches were his ruin (Luke 12:13-21).
Obviously Jesus often thought about the inner life of His followers. We might tell ourselves we've been a Christian, read the Bible, and attended church for so long that we must have gotten the hang of that whole heart thing by now. Yet, if that were true, then why are there still so many problems Jesus and the apostles taught against present today?
Being a church member doesn't excuse us from harboring heart issues. Jesus often rebuked the Pharisees and experts of the Mosaic law for their failure to fully serve and obey God even though their peers would've thought they had it made both socially and spiritually.
Since we're not male Jewish religious leaders during the Roman Empire, our pitfalls would look different. Having a high paying job, a beautiful home, or fashionable clothes doesn't necessarily mean we're who we should be on the inside. Being a popular, productive member of a worldly organization, won't gain you a place in heaven. And dozens of likes on social media don't necessarily equal God's approval of the content.
All the things that bring acceptance and praise from our fellow humans can be present while something inside is out of order. Even long time Christians and respected church leaders can become like the Pharisees if cultural traditions, outward shows of virtue, and holding onto pride and personal comfort become as important as religion. Like the man who left room in his heart for worse demons to move in, heart issues such as pride, prejudice, hypocrisy, grudges, worldliness, sexual impurity, envy, and greed have plenty of room to move in and fester if every corner of our hearts isn't dedicated to God (Matthew 12:43-45).
Jesus graphically illustrated the importance of having an undivided heart to his followers by saying it would be better to remove our own physical eye or hand than let anything come between us and God (Matthew 5:29-30). As disturbing as we find the thought of physical injury, how often do we take the same care over our souls and the souls of others? Every time we turn to something of this world for guidance or comfort instead of Our Father, we're spiritually blinding and mutilating ourselves just as Jesus warned in Luke 11. In addition, we may permanently damage our ability to reach someone who needed to hear the truth. We're placing our souls and the souls we influence in the vulnerable spiritual position of “the blind leading the blind” (Matthew 15:14).
When someone is blind, the problem is not that the light doesn't exist but that their eyes do not have the ability to use the light. If we close our eyes to God’s truth or hide it from others for our own comfort or convenience, we're choosing true blindness, a darkness both without and within. But when we choose God above all, our inner house can be filled with the light of God's truth and love for Him to shine where and when He wills.
Challenge:
Sit down and think about yourself and your family this past year. What is your first response to change, adversity, or stress? Do you turn to people or things of this world for wisdom and comfort? Do you take a proud, judgmental approach toward confrontations or differences like the Pharisees? Do you spend your time and resources on enjoying your blessings without putting a significant effort toward sharing with others like the rich fool? What safeguards have you put in place and what habits do you cultivate to ensure your hearts stay filled with light, truth, and love?
