Blessed Lord, take the hand of this dear reader and guide them as they face the challenges of this day; in Christ Jesus' name I pray, amen.
What a great little song for little folks most of us learned some years ago: "O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above, is looking down with love, O be careful little eyes what you see." I didn't quite understand it then, but I do now. It's based (or could be) on Matthew 5:
27 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
Okay, so the Sunday school/Vacation Bible School teacher may not have been talking about adultery, but here's the thing: Jesus knew how our vision works. Our eyes see an image, it gets sent to the brain and the brain interprets it and we have a thought about that image or take an action based on the image. And it also gets sent to our hearts. The human brain is amazing as it constantly learns and receives and processes so many things. It was not too long ago, on the bargain table of a big mall bookstore there was a little book on sale that I should have bought, but I read long enough to learn about the logo of a shipping company that we see pretty often, if not every day that has an arrow in it. FedEx in between the E and the x formed the logo in such a way that there is an arrow there. The author of the book said something to the effect that once you see it you will always see it. And he was right. I can't now not see on of those trucks and not see the arrow.
What do you see when you see something attractive? What sort of processes have your trained your brain to see? Jesus talked about the power of thoughts in our dealings with lust. If our brains are programmed to see lust when we see someone desireable, we're in trouble already before we even do anything about that lust. The seriousness for Jesus is that we reduce people to objects. What God created as good creation we have made into desired things. The rest of the passage is saying for us to control our thoughts and our actions. We are not too take it literally about plucking out our eyes or cutting off our hands, but we are to control them.
PRAYER: Gracious God of all beauty, help my eyes and my brain to see as Jesus would. It is easy to see things in the wrong way, but with Your help I can be blessed and see Your blessings. I ask forgiveness for those times I have failed You and I ask that I no long tread that path. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
