Good Eyes and Bad

Jesus calls the eye the"lamp of the body" in the Beatitudes recorded in Matthew 6. He states, "if the eyes are good the whole body will be full of light." I have been meditating on two applications of this verse. The first of course is my personal life. What I focus on will affect my entire being.

Jesus completes this thought in Matt. 6:23 by saying, "if the eyes are bad the whole body will be full of darkness."

Job 31 describes Job's covenant with his eyes. He made a covenant before God not to let his eyes look at a woman in lust. I think of how many areas this covers today from books, magazines, TV, movies, and the internet. It is also a call to purposefully keep my focus on Christ. As David said in Psalm 141, "my eyes are fixed on you."

Another area of application for church leaders has to do with our vision and how we are leading people. What are putting before them? What are feeding the people in our churches?

If we are casting a compelling vision that is in-line with God's purpose then the whole body will be full of light.

Is the reason many churches are in decline attributed to a lack of vision and focus from the leadership. Where are we leading people? What am I modeling?

The apostle Paul said that we become what we gaze at. As a leader, if my gaze is fixed on Christ then I will reflect this to the people I lead at Life Church.
This makes me ask some introspective questions like:

• Why do I want our church to grow? For my glory or God's?
• Is my desire to build my reputation or to be of no reputation like Christ?
• On the other hand, am I getting too comfortable with a few hundred people?

These are questions that keep me centered.

I want to see the world through God's eyes. When I do I think I will clearly see the same thing Jesus challenged His disciples to see in John 4, "Open your eyes and look at the fields that are ready for harvest." God's vision always involves people.

Without a passionate personal vision we can deceive ourselves in to thinking the latest church growth strategy or marketing campaign will grow a church. True, it may a grow a church but it will never make disciples. John warns of this is Revelation 3:17-21.

Our vision is never neutral, and typically gravitates toward comfort and personal gratification rather than on the face of God.

My prayer is that my eyes would be fixed upon Christ and this will guide me as I seek God in leading His church.