“‘The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’” ( Matthew 6:22 22 The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. –23).

Expanding on the previous three verses, Jesus uses the eye as an illustration of the heart. The lamp, or lens, of the body is the eye; that’s how we receive light. The heart is the eye of the soul, and it is through our hearts that God’s truth, love, peace, and every spiritual blessing comes to us.

Words closely related to the word for “clear” include liberality and generosity. So the implication is that if our heart is generous (clear), our spiritual life will be flooded with spiritual understanding.

However, if our eye is diseased or damaged, no light can enter, and our “whole body will be full of darkness.” If our hearts are burdened with material concerns, we’ll become “blind” and insensitive to spiritual concerns. The eye is our window—when it’s clear, light shines through; but when it’s corrupt, it prevents light from entering.

The eye that is bad is the heart that is selfishly indulgent. The person who is materialistic and greedy is spiritually blind. Because he has no way of recognizing true light, he thinks he has light when he doesn’t. It’s because he’s self-deceived that Jesus says, “How great is the darkness!”

This principle is both simple and sobering: the way we look at and use our money is a sure barometer of our spiritual condition.

Ask Yourself

Blind spots are certainly easy to develop in our hearts, whether about money or any other aspect of belief and practice. How can you safeguard yourself from letting your personal blind spots become ingrained attitudes, poisoning your ability to see clearly what God wants to do in your life?

From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.

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