Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 23

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

                                                                            Matthew 6:22-23 (NRSVue)

In the ancient world, people believed that the eye, like a lamp, actually gave light to objects so that they may be seen.  As we think about technology, the lamp was an advanced tool that was needed to bring light into the darkness which would have been much more prevalent at night.

As we think about lamps and light, one of the most famous verses comes from Psalm 119:105 which states, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

From this perspective, God's word gives us the ability to truly see.

Jesus seems to be taking the ancient view of physiology and utilizing the metaphor of lamp, light and darkness to talk about our worldview.  

If we have a healthy way of looking at things, we can see clearly.  If we are looking at things from a selfish, greedy or territorial perspective, things probably look a lot darker.  When our perspective starts poorly, it may be difficult to see at all!

Anything clouding your vision?

In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink, he talks about priming or the psychological characteristic of being influenced in our behavior by the words to which we've been exposed.  In John Bargh's experiment, referenced in the book, subjects that were given a list of rude words were more likely to interrupt a conversation than those who were given patient words to review.

If this is even somewhat true, it should be important for Christians to ask themselves what kind of priming are we doing to start our day?

Are we allowing our eyes to see most clearly?

There are days when all of us feel that the darkness is closing in.  How much of this is happening to us subconsciously from the kind of conversations we're having, the things we're watching and the content that we're reading?  

And from a sense of bringing light to the world from earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, how are we influencing those around us in a positive direction?

Prayer for the day: Luminescent God, we find that the light we shine into the world is simply a reflection of the light you shine to us.  As we look upon your word, may it allow us to see more clearly.  And as we visualize again who you have created us to be, may this dispel any darkness creeping up on us.  We pray this in the name of the Christ.  Amen.

 

Photo by Jakob Lange via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.