The Single Eye
Where will you not find money-loving preachers, pleasure taking preachers and those seeking to please men? The whole church is contaminated with them! They are a stink in the nostrils of God, pests of the Truth and a nuisance to all those seeking Christ. Rightly so that hell is paved with the souls of these kinds of preachers, but woe unto those who follow their ways. What the world deems as success is contrary to what God has revealed in His Word. Making yourself a friend of the world is to automatically become an enemy of God. (James4:4) Beware of seeking after gold and silver for death and hell hide beneath. Mike Desario
http://www.matthew548.com/The%20Single%20Eye.html
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But if your 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!” Matt6:22-23
Simplicity and purity are the two wings that lift the soul up to heaven. Simplicity, which is in the intention and purity, which is in the affections. The earnest and devoted life in Christ is expressed singularly in these traits and is manifest by the fruit of godliness and self-control. Thus the Grace of God is made known unto man as WORTHY to be received because it adorns ones life in righteousness and true holiness.
But the present day church has distorted these glorious truths. Many appear to believe that the soul can blend darkness with light and light with darkness and remain ‘FULL’ of light in the Lord. In consequence the Shepherds who have been entrusted with the ‘souls’ of men, cannot tell the difference between good and evil and one who serves God and one who does not. However fixed the meaning of scripture may be, they have found a way around it and insist that God will take them to heaven despite their double-minded opinions. Yet the truth is expressed in Simplicity and purity.
The Lord places simplicity of intention DIRECTLY between your worldly desires and cares, either you have your eye FIXED singly upon God and thereby your whole body is full of light, or the root of your intention is to please yourself and those around you, and your whole body is full of darkness. Devotion to God cannot be divided. Holiness and happiness follow those WALKING in the Light. But darkness and despair pursue those who attempt to serve God and mammon. Although they imagine themselves ‘in the light’ they are blind to the great darkness in them. Thus the passage states, ‘If the light in you is darkness, how GREAT is that darkness!’ Nothing could be worse than this brand of SELF-DECEPTION.
Who then is ‘full of light’, and conformed in heart and life to the will of God? None but those who are truly Born of God and guided by His Holy Spirit! The Bible is unattainable to those who pretend to follow Christ and that’s the reason they can’t understand its meaning. To most professing Christians the weekly sermon is a scheme of doctrines and practices far above what anyone could actually accomplish. They feel that by ‘hearing,’ their faith is increased and God will accept them nonetheless because of Grace. After all, the preachers make no demands as to their manner of life and if they do it’s ALWAYS tempered with the ‘suggestion’ that God is merciful and forgiving and no one is perfect.
What does it mean to have a ‘Single Eye?’ It means simply that GOD is the guiding principle of all your thoughts, words and actions. From within flows the intention that in all things either small or great, in word or deed, the heart is focused on pleasing God and doing His will. He is the center of ALL your desires, the end of all your plans and aspirations. Your goals in life are to His Glory alone, not your success, comfort and ease. ‘Thy WHOLE body is FULL of Light!’
The soul is filled with the light of heaven and glory of the Lord. The conscience is void of offense toward God and man, love is sincere from a pure heart. The Spirit is bearing witness that you are acceptable unto Him. You rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing, because your mind is constantly fixed upon God. In everything you give thanks, knowing that THIS is the will of God concerning you and all things will work together for good if you love and cleave to Him forever.
You know your salvation experience is genuine IF you are walking in this Light. He abides with you, teaches you and chastens you as a beloved son. You are continually being renewed in the spirit of your mind into the image of Jesus Christ and walking in newness of life with Him through the Power of His Grace. You are fighting the good fight and laying hold on eternal life to which you were called by His glory. And you are holding forth His Word of life to the world, blameless and harmless, bearing witness to a wicked and perverse generation that Christ can make you whole.
But what of those ‘full of darkness’ who know it not? The eye is not single, but evil, roving about seeking the pleasures of life and lust of the flesh. They pretend to know God and admire His Son, but their guiding principle is the ‘love’ of the world. While they indulge the pleasures of the imagination, seek the praises of men and desire wealth and prosperity, they embrace a form of godliness and remain in utter darkness. They are ignorant of their present estate and surrounded with impenetrable clouds of delusion impossible to penetrate. As long as their soul rests on the false assumption that darkness can be mixed with light and truth with error, they will continue in this snare until they stand naked at the Judgment and are sent away in sorrow.
How many today in the church who are respectable and a decent sort of people have fallen into this awful trap and know nothing of the nature of true religion. From the pastors right on down to the pew-sitter, they are defective in this natural understanding. Although many have an excellent education and consider themselves intelligent, they remain totally ignorant of the Simplicity that is in Christ. They do not Strive to please God, nor is He in many of their thoughts, unless they need something from Him. The guiding principle of their lives is career, family and self indulgence, not God.
For this reason true holiness is lost to the modern church as is Christ Himself. They worship Him in word and song, but they WILL NOT present themselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him and be transformed by the renewing of their mind! The vast majority of them including the pastors have NEVER seen a true conversion to Christ. They know nothing of scriptural holiness or the Power of a true and living faith. To them such things are ‘fanatical’ and over the edge, their concept of salvation is repeating a prayer and joining the church. All their efforts fall flat on the ground because they are building on the WRONG foundation. The heart must FIRST be transformed before you can pour in the New Wine of Truth. (Matt9:17) Religion avails nothing that is NOT based on the righteousness, joy and peace that comes from a heart FILLED with the Living Spirit of God. The church can seek happiness in prosperity, activities and worldly enjoyments but until the eye is FIXED solely on Christ all their efforts will be in vain.
Consider then, is the light in you really darkness? How important is this to know? Your eternal soul hangs in the balance. Are you puffed up with knowledge and much learning in the scriptures, but lacking in true piety and self-control? Is your profession utterly inconsistent with the revelation of plain Bible truth? The Simplicity is this, IF the guiding principle inside you is NOT directing your understanding, passions, affections and desires (all your thoughts words and deeds) to God and His glory and you are not striving to please Him in all your ways, the ‘Light’ that you suppose to be in you is really DARKNESS altogether. And how terrible are its effects!
Test and examine yourself in view of these precious truths. If your eye is not single what will be your aim in life? To please yourself and others and to seek worldly achievement? What of your children? Do you desire that they go to the best schools, get the finest education that money can buy and find employment that will grant them the most comfort and success according to the standards of the world? Would you prefer that your son be a fine lawyer, a brilliant engineer or a rich doctor, rather than a Saint of God, filled with the Holy Spirit and broken hearted over the lost souls of humanity? What are the common pursuits of MOST professing Christians today if NOT these very things? How unspeakably darkened is the understanding of those who judge a palace on earth to be preferred over a throne in heaven!
Consider also those who would account it joy for their daughters to marry a rich man, yet count themselves good Christians. They would rather sell her soul to the devil than insure her eternal happiness in Christ. Not that the rich cannot be saved! But it is exceedingly difficult in the BEST of times for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mark10:17-22) How near impossible is it in such darkened times as these when every preacher in the pulpit is willing compromise the truth to please the ears of men? But many are seeking to ‘marry well’ within the walls of the church. They do not have a single eye on Christ or His eternal riches but on the things of this world and how much of them they can gain. The gods of wealth and success have become to the professing church like the fires of Moloch. Yet he only required that they pass ‘through’ his fire, while you pass your children into a FIRE that shall NEVER be quenched!
Even the young person who has a deep and abiding desire to serve God and bring souls out of darkness into His marvelous light must beware of not having this SINGLE EYE. How easily can one be plunged into darkness and begin to seek the folly of worldly gain. They are surrounded on every side by money and refinement, by greed and covetousness. The pulpits are filled with preachers seeking praise and recognition, vile wretches who lead unknowing souls into the pits of hell around the clock. Where will you not find money-loving preachers, pleasure taking preachers and those seeking to please men? The whole church is contaminated with them! They are a stink in the nostrils of God, pests of the Truth and a nuisance to all those seeking Christ. Rightly so that hell is paved with the souls of these kinds of preachers, but woe unto those who follow their ways.
What the world deems as success is contrary to what God has revealed in His Word. Making yourself a friend of the world is to automatically become an enemy of God. (James4:4) Beware of seeking after gold and silver for death and hell hide beneath.
Find contentment in the Lord and serve Him with all your heart. Better to marry a godly person who possesses nothing in this world but Jesus Christ than a person of wealth who ignores God and thinks nothing of Him. But the choice is yours to make, be it a rich child of the devil or a poor son of God, your EYE will decide. You may prefer a little of both and think it ‘acceptable’ to join with one who mixes only slightly darkness with light. But give heed to His warnings, NO ONE CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS! In choosing a profession or a companion for life, FIX your eye firmly on HIM and do not become ensnared in the teaching of men. “Let your eye be Single and your whole body will be full of light!”
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Contact: Mike DeSario, mike@antiosas,Qrg
2172 Marhofer Ave, Stow, Ohio 44224
330-945-6700
