33 “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. 34 Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. 35 So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. 36 Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Read Luke 11:33-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
For a long time, I believed this entry’s passage to be only about God, about Jesus, and about witnessing.
However, while I still believe these things to be important in the theme for this passage, there is something else – a deeper theme – that is also true in this passage. I saw the theme one morning while studying, and it has shifted my thinking on my own walk with God.
The theme is a little easier to see if we take the two primary phrases that emphasize the theme and put them next to each other:
“Your eye is like a lamp for your body.” (v. 34a)
“So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.” (v. 35)
Placing these two sentences next to each other reveals another way we can see this passage.
First, if we take Jesus’ words seriously, we see what we choose to look at affects our life. It is just like saying that the things we pay attention to will shape our thinking moving forward. The media we consume will change us. The books we read, the games we play, and the movies, videos, and television we watch will all shape our lives moving into the future. Jesus is sharing this with us as a big truth that we should pay attention to.
This first sentence sets the stage for the teaching between and leads to a key idea Jesus wants to emphasize in the second phrase, “Make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.” (v. 35)
On the surface, this second phrase doesn’t make sense: Light and darkness are opposites. Darkness only exists where light is not present, but as soon as light enters, the darkness leaves.
But this is where Jesus weaves a profound truth into His teaching: If we think the darkness inside of our lives is really light, we won’t seek out true light.
It also hints at the truth that everyone is sharing what they believe to be “light”, but not everything that is shared is true light. If we are living with darkness in our lives that we believe to be light, then we will work to spread that darkness as far as we can – counteracting the real light that God wants to share.
I don’t think anyone is immune to this temptation. There is always a temptation to stop short of growing closer to Jesus. He is the source of true light, and this means that we have a way to judge ideas that come our way. It is a simple test really: Does this idea lead me closer to Jesus, lead others in my life closer to Jesus, or build relationships/connections with others in a way that helps them see God living in me?
If the answer to the above question is yes, then the idea in question is most likely light.
If the answer is no, then the idea is darkness or irrelevant.
This brings us back to the first phrase: “Your eye is like a lamp for your body.”
Jesus cautions us to be extra careful about what we let into our lives, because the more darkness we let in, the less clear we will be able to see Him. By focusing on Jesus, we let light shine into our lives, and the darkness we have held onto will fade. Focusing on Jesus will help reprioritize the direction of our lives, and it is the only way we can truly move closer to Him.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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