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Dealing with Darkness

Dealing with Darkness

Words of Faith 8-22-18

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2018

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Luke 11:33-36

   "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. [34] Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. [35] See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. [36] Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

 

       Jesus taught that the eye is a lamp that brings light in and shines light out. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.

       It is most important to receive the Light of Jesus into our lives. "If your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

       The Bible teaches that Jesus is Life and Light. "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:4-5). But Jesus made it clear that we must also keep out darkness. "See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness."

       We tend to think of darkness as simply the absence of light. In the physical world this is true. According to physics "darkness" is simply when there are no electromagnetic vibrations in the spectrum we call light. In the physical world you cannot "keep out darkness". That is impossible. You can only bring in light. But in the spirit-- in the mind and in the soul-- DARKNESS is something more than just the absence of light. Yes, light chases away darkness, but there is more.

       The Bible teaches that we are to be careful in the way that we direct our eyes. We are responsible to divert our eyes from the places of darkness. We divert our eyes from looking at certain things. Just as we do not stare into something physical like the sun that will blind us; we do not stare into things of emotion and spirit that will blind us. There is pain that warns us if we stare into the sun, but we can make that choice and go blind. If we stare into the things of darkness, so also we go blind in our spirit. We lose our ability to see the things of God.

       Jesus looked at this crowd and He saw a lot of pain. He also saw darkness in many eyes. He saw haughtiness and pride. He saw sin and wickedness. He saw pain and despair. It is a despairing thing to realize that darkness has come in. The Bible teaches that one of the seven detestable things in the sight of the Lord is haughty eyes along with a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:16-17).   Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin! (Proverbs 21:4).

       When there is darkness in our hearts there is no more light in our eyes. The Psalmist described it saying, "My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes" (38:10).

       The truth is that we make choices about the darkness we allow into our souls. The Psalmist declared, "I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil. Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure" (101:3-5).

       We have a choice of what we allow through the gateway of the eye. "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word" (Psalm 119:37). The wisdom writer teaches, "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways" (Proverbs 23:26). And wisdom share the warning, "Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man" (Proverbs 27:20).

     It is in the eyes that darkness begins. If that lamp is dark then we grow dark. When we allow our physical eyes to wander our emotional eyes are close behind and spiritual eyes will wander as well.

       Do you recall how this whole thing of sin began? In Genesis 3:6 we read, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." It began with the eyes. She saw and it was pleasing to the eye.

         There is hardly a sin anywhere that does not begin when we first gaze upon it whether in the eye of the flesh the eye of the SOUL or the eye of the SPIRIT. Peter wrote vividly of the way that SIN takes over the eyes. "But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed an accursed brood! (2 Peter 2:12-14)

       The Apostle John declared, "For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:16).

       Those who were listening that day, had they looked back deeply into the eyes of Jesus, would have seen something, a cross. They would have seen that His eyes were set upon the cross a place where He would die in payment that would set them free from all of the darkness.

       To us, His eyes say, "I died to take all the darkness away. I want to put light into your eyes. I want to put light into your whole being. I want to drive out the darkness. Set your eyes upon me. When the world beckons, set you eyes upon me."

 

       Father God, protect my eyes. Give me wisdom to know when to look away. Show me what I need to change in order to protect my eyes from the darkness. Fill me with Your Light so that no part of me will be dark. I want to be completely lighted for You. In Jesus' name.