The title of this post is from the Gospel of Luke. Its part of the 34th verse from the 11th chapter. Since you want to know the complete verse which is a statement made by our Lord Jesus Christ, here it is – a precious instruction for you and for me.
The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
I have wondered why the light of the body is the eye for many years. The desire to understand this has been there, but for some reason, I neither got it from the sermons I heard, nor from the books I read or from the people with whom I have interacted. It’s also likely that when it was explained, I was not attentive to hearing it. Time and again I have understood that many hear, but few understand. Many see but few perceive it. ( click here if interested to read more on See beyond your eyesight.)
But early this morning, what was hidden was revealed to me and it was sooo very beautiful. I hope when you read it, you may find it agreeable to your mind.
The body has five sense organs, viz., the ear, nose, eyes, skin, and tongue. The ear helps us with sensing sound, the nose helps us smell, the eyes help us see, the skin helps us feel the sense of touch, and the tongue helps us taste.
The eyes help us see. But if it’s completely dark and if light is totally absent, the eyes cannot see anything. It is through the eyes that the light enters, and our eyes can see. Only when light enters the eyes can see. In total darkness our eyes can not see. So we can understand that our eyes can see when it’s not in darkness but only when light is present. We may recall that, when we walk in total pitch darkness, we risk stumbling and hitting things.
Thus, we understand that the eye is the light of the body.
In the 2nd half of the verse, we read that when the eye is evil, the body is full of darkness. So, when we use our eyes to look at cruel and dirty situations that cause hurt and pain, anxiety, sadness and anger, lust and envy by what we see or read we make our whole body dark. The images, videos, and content, we read or see thus can make our whole body dark.
If you read the verse written in blue font earlier in the page, you notice that when, “but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.” Thus we can rationalise that earlier in the verse the word opposite to evil should have been stated. We find that we only have the portion which reads like this viz. “when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light”
Thus we can conclude that “single” is the word used as opposite of evil. As we know that opposite of evil is good, so let us read the verse as we substitute “good” inplace of “single”.
The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is good (seeing good), thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil(seeing evil), thy body also is full of darkness.
(The words in black are paraphrased as explained above).
Jesus desires that our body remains in light, so use your eyes to see and read only what you are certain that Jesus Christ would approve and appreciate. We do not want our body to be dark. We know the verse that Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ( 1 Corinthians 6:19). So being responsible for our body is important. As we desire this, keep remembering the significance of the verses, we can do it with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Great success and much Joy as you pursue this.
