In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus said: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (NKJV).
A single eye is one that is looking in the right direction. It also means having the right vantage point and seeing things with the right perspective. The Word of God gives us the right vantage point.
We must see ourselves with a new perspective: forgiven, healed, at peace with God, with ourselves, and with people everywhere. When our spiritual sight is properly focused—when it is pure and sound—it will illuminate our hearts.
An evil eye is one that is focused on the wrong things and views things from the wrong perspective. We understand this more clearly as we grasp the meaning of evil. It means “adversity, affliction, calamity, misery, that which causes sorrow or any other undesirable result.”
To focus our attention on sin, immorality, disease, depression, poverty, or any other work of the devil is to have an evil eye. The reason these things are evil is because they actually produce calamity and undesirable results.
But if we turn our attention to the light of God’s Word it will run the darkness out of our lives. Then we will realize God’s power is greater than any problem we face.
Hebrews 12:3 says, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (NKJV).
Consider Jesus’ example of how to live. He lived in total control. He ruled over sickness and disease. He had authority over demon spirits. He did not tolerate religious hypocrisy. He continually reached out to people to deliver them from the hand of the oppressor. As we look at His example the possibilities for success are clear.
Consider His sacrifice. When we see the completeness of what Jesus accomplished on our behalf, we will never put ourselves down again. We have been bought with a price. When we realize the price He paid, we recognize our value to God. We belong to God. He has forgiven us. We must see ourselves forgiven. Not as an unworthy sinner, but as a worthy child of God. We are important in His family. We have no right to degrade what belongs to God.
Consider His resurrection. When Jesus came out of the grave, it settled Satan’s eternal defeat. Now we have been raised up together with Christ. Satan has been defeated in our lives. We can now live in the newness of life, not governed by old habits and fears, but by the eternal Word of God. His power lives within us in order to produce success.
As we consider Jesus, we are drawing close to Him, and He will draw close to us (see James 4:8). We must see ourselves in the light of Jesus’ victory. This is the key to successfully finishing our race. Consider Jesus above all else! If we will look to Jesus, we will succeed.
