I'm spending time unpacking Matthew 6:19-24 in preparation for a message/sermon/talk I'm giving at Loyola on Tuesday. Some of this came out of a study we did in our house group, so a tip of my hat to anyone who contributed thoughts that evening. By the way, if anyone has feedback - good or bad - I'd love to hear it in the comments or by e-mailing me.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" - Matthew 6:22-23

In short, this passage tells me that if I trust God, things will be clear, and if I don't, things will be blurry, even dark.

I've read that 'If your eyes are good' is a Jewish way of saying "if you are generous". When we are generous we become more like Jesus and we experience what it feels like to put our treasures into Heaven. Jesus says that if our eyes are good, our whole body will be full of light, but if our eyes are bad, our whole body will be full of darkness. Since we're in metaphor-land, I think it's safe to pull in the idea that God is light. Here's how I break down the other part:

If we have bad eyes, things get blurry; It's hard to see the road ahead. The times in my life that have felt the blurriest often involve money and security - when I have relied on a job, a paycheck, at-will employment, capitalism and a free market, things never seemed secure. I'd find myself asking questions like "Do I make enough money? Do I have enough money if I were to lose my job tomorrow? Am I saving enough?" In college, I'd ask "Is this the right major for me? Do I have enough contacts? Do I have any contacts? Is my resume lacking? What happens if I fail this class?" Now I ask questions like "What if we get pregnant? What about retirement? Am I saving enough to plant a church?"

Those questions, in and of themselves, are healthy, worthwhile questions. But you can see where the downward spiral begins. I've watched people (including myself) get into a hopeless place by letting these questions consume them. Letting those questions guide your life can lead to a black place. Some words I've heard people use in correlation are hopeless, confusing, darkness and depression.

If there is no light in us, if everything is black, that's a hard place to live. It's hard to see a way out when all we can see is looming debt and more stuff we don't have and less job security.

But if our eyes are good, we see clearly. When I've relied on God for my future, when I've listened and responded to Him, things have become clear. A feeling of security accompanies it, even in the face of overwhelming doubt and despair.

So Jesus says that if we are generous, our whole body will be filled with light. When I'm letting go of my money and trusting God, it becomes easier to trust Him in so many other areas. I experience the sense of peace and surrender that goes along with trusting God with that area of my life. It opens me up to scripture that tells me that God has a plan for me, that God will provide, that God will invite me into His story and give me meaning and fullness in ways that only my creator can.

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