That Bad Eye

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on Earth, (unstable)…but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven (stable). For where you treasure is there your heart will be also.”

Jesus’s teaching here was part of larger insight in Matthew comparing the foolishness of heaping up riches/possessions that cannot follow you to Heaven, to the wisdom of investing into the right places. This was a set up conversation for a larger point about the heart. But, wouldn’t it be a riot if you took all the riches and possessions you ever worked for with you to eternity and then found out that they held absolutely no value and you derived zero pleasure out of them? Sounds like Hell!

One aspect of this larger point is obvious. Put your heart into the things that matter the most in life: spouse, children, relationships, friendships et al... This of course makes sense. They are generally good places to invest it. People in a sense handling the commodity of God on this earth (love) and caring for and placing value on each other (especially those closest to us) reflects greatly on our faith in an eternal God who gave us such treasures. By extension it deepens our faith also in an eternal place called Heaven. We get into some serious trouble when we invest our hearts into riches and possessions for the sake of them only or for the excuse so often heard: “I’m doing this all because I love my family”. It has nothing to do with pride I’m sure!

When it comes to the "value of value and the money of money" Jesus rolls right into a second aspect of His discussion. In the first part of v-23 He says how "the eye is the lamp of the body. If the eye is good your whole body will be full of light". Light is mostly, in our view, better than darkness. We can’t see in the dark unless we have light. In fact darkness cannot overtake light unless the light is out but not visa versa. In the second part of v-23 He adds this: “if the 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.” In other words a bad eye equals darkness prevailing, not simply because you got a “bad eye”.

Rocky Balboa got that bad eye at the end of Rocky I that he needed to "protect" in order to beat Apollo Creed in Rocky II. This however, is not the kind of darkness of eye as you might think. The word bad in the original text is “evil” (condition or character or function). It translates in meaning to: ‘full of labour, annoyances and hardships.’ It really means toiling! It also sounds a lot like the stuff that we deal with on a daily basis: work, owning a business, dealing with people, raising children, being married (the list goes on) can be "toiling" in a sense unless you adopt a great attitude.

Jesus ties it all together on the foolishness of riches and treasures when He says that you CANNOT serve God and serve Treasure at the same time because you will hold fast to one or the other but not both. The Lord always desires that we cease in efforts to puff up the flesh and pride of life, since in the end it proves not only to be disastrous but also foolish. He counsels us not to work to gain power and riches as if they have the capability to grease the skids to get us into Heaven. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unless you’ve also figured out a way to take all that you have with you when you die, my guess is it likely doesn’t work out the way you think. A rich man once said to his wife that he wanted to buried with all of his millions. When he died she honored his wishes. She put a personal check made out to him for "millions" in the jacket pocket he wore inside the coffin. He got his wish but the treasure stayed on earth with her. Clever girl!

God does not look on the outside of a person (as man does) to make a judgement, He looks at the hidden things and motives of the heart to do so. But even if we manage to successfully invest our heart into the treasure of the relationships we have with the people God has charged us to care for, we still will lack one important thing: the next step. Jesus is telling us to go one step further than that and to invest our heart into the treasures of His kingdom since those close to us are not the final arbiter of our eternal resting place. Only the Lord Jesus Christ has that distinction.

God gives us equal opportunity to repent (turn away) from the bad eye scenario. It's the place of strivings of labor, the trials of hardships and the general annoyances of living (toiling) which are embroiled in earthly treasure gain. He wants us to look intently to His kingdom and His treasures of eternal peace-joy-love and holiness. A Kingdom where He delights in lovingkindness, justice and righteousness; a Kingdom where He rules and reigns over all things; a Kingdom where our flesh cannot glory, only our spirits which have been born anew in Christ. Here are the things where true value and stability rest upon. May you pursue the good eye that fills the whole body with light and resolve yourself to stop protecting that bad eye as a first step. Then get right in your heart and trust Jesus above ALL of the things this world has to lacklusterly offer.