“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 is full of darkness. Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness.” (Luke 11:34)

What do you have your eyes on?  What do you value?  As this verse notes, we need to be careful then what we set our sights on and hold in high regard.  What we value guides our decisions and behaviors.  We move in the direction of our values.

Proverbs 21:4 says, “Haughty eyes and a proud heart–the guides of the wicked–are sin.”

And Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.”

So how do we know if our eye is bad or good?  John Maxwell and Rob Hoskins note that we can know if our values are good if they meet one standard:  Our values must value all people, all of the time and in all situations.   If what we value, devalues others or excludes them, it will harm them and is not a good value. [1] 

An example of this would be integrity.  We can highly value integrity and set our sights to live with high integrity.  However, if our high standards of integrity cause others to feel demeaned or like they can never live up to our expectations and are not good enough, our value of integrity is wrongly formed.

We see this with the Pharisees and scribes in the bible.  They were seen as people of integrity that were living by the highest value standards.     Yet,  Jesus told the disciples, “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

The integrity they valued was a standard of division and not inclusion.   It was weighty judgement on everyone else out of a place of spiritual pride at the same time as a failure to live up to the heavy standards they set in their own lives.  It created division instead of love, acceptance and healing.   

We see this also with the woman who had committed adultery.   We all know the story that the religious leaders took the woman and threw her before Jesus, asking about stoning her for an action where she was clearly in the wrong.  Yet, Jesus stayed silent and wrote in the sand.  He then told them that the one without sin should throw the first stone and they all walked away.      

When what we set our eyes on and value is a standard for others that we measure them by and devalue them by, it is not a good value.  It is filled with darkness rather than light.    Values that are full of light are rooted in treating others with dignity and respect.   Values need to make others feel valuable and add value to them. [2] 

Over and over, we see examples of how the scribes and Pharisees had their eyes flooded with darkness.  Rather than rejoicing when someone was healed, they were offended if it occurred on the Sabbath.  Also, they were indignant about Jesus eating with those who were known sinners.   They used their values to separate themselves and place themselves above others rather than bend down and serve others.

The values they held created segregation and a line of authority rather than a circle of inclusion.   We also see this with how the Jews were treated in Germany.  A whole country went awry under the leadership of Hitler.  As they valued genetic strength and intelligence, they devalued everyone that didn’t fit their standard.  It resulted in exterminating anyone who didn’t measure up.  Besides Jews, anyone that was disabled or physically limited was treated inhumanely and massacred.  

As terrible and evil as this was, it started with the eye and what they set their sights on – to be great, living by these high standards and being superior.   We can see this sometimes in our own nationalism.  We will hear people say that we need to make America great again.  Yet, for some people in our country, we have never really been great;  They have felt oppressed, excluded and judged.

We can diminish people in more than one way.   From homeless people who live on the margins, the judgements and looks from others belittle them and make them feel worthless.  The lack of respect, care and human treatment only make their situation harder.

Working on a crisis line for some years, I noticed that those struggling with mental health issues or poverty, often felt helpless and as incapable as other people treated them.  Rather than believing they were empowered, they frequently tried to push the decision making off to me in the conversation thinking I must know better than them what is best for them as many had treated this way previously.

All this to say that sometimes my values get in my way rather than guide me down the right path.  I believe at the time that I am valuing the right things but really it is legalistic.   While I don’t see it initially, it comes out in the fruit that is born from it that fails to benefit others.

I find that I have set a standard of judgement that I expect others to live up to.   When they don’t live up to my expectations, I am disappointed.  In being disappointed, I am diminishing them and telling them they do not measure up by my body language.   What hurts others is that I don’t really see them.  I don’t see beyond the standards and expectations I set upon them.

I believe this is rooted in my own self-sufficiency.   I have high standards for myself that I feel inadequate when I don’t live up to them.   Rather than having grace and mercy for my mistakes and failures, I judge myself by them and have a hard time getting beyond them—deeming myself as not measuring up.

In being careful that the light in me is not darkness, I need to be careful with the standards that I set for myself and others.  Thinking that I am setting my eyes on light, my vision can really be distorted when these values result in judgement.  

My deepest desire is to bring the Lord something of value which is why I set high standards for myself.   I want to give Him more than I do and I am disappointed that I do not fully live up to my expectations.  But, in Micah 6:7-8 (BSB) it says, “Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

At the end of the day, what blesses the Lord is walking in mercy towards others, seeing them and humbly serving and adding value to their lives. This is worth to Him way more than what I give Him or do for Him.

In Isaiah 58, the Lord confronts His people who were fasting before Him and asking for His justice.  While they were asking for good things, humbling themselves, going without eating and were eager to seek Him out and know His ways, He told them that they fell short and were not heard on high because their fasting harmed rather than benefited others.  It bound others up in judgement and expectations rather than set them free.

Isaiah 58:6-7 says, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Isaiah 42:3 it says about Jesus, “A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.”  In other words, the oppressed and already crushed, He will not further diminish by judging them with religious expectations, rather He will take their place, heal them and bring them into spacious places of freedom.   

When I set my expectations on someone, I bruise them rather than heal them.   How can I care for others better, bring hope and healing rather than judgement?   Do I see the hurting person in someone who has embezzled and wronged others, or do I only see judgement of them?  When someone has done something that I think is awful, can I see them and their need for Jesus and pray for them while establishing boundaries rather than objectify them and set my expectations on them, weighing them down further?

At the end of the day, without Jesus, we are all bruised, poor and needy. It is only by His love that we can set our sights higher. Instead of the bruised we become the ones Jesus uses to bring healing to others. Instead of diminishing ourselves and others, we can bring them healing. As we drink from the Living Waters, we are like trees planted by streams that bear fruit that brings healing to the nations.

And as we put more in individually in doing our part, when we work with others who are also putting their all in and doing their part, the impact multiplies.  Like a team of horses where one can pull a load, two together can pull ten times the same load.   

To be yoked together, as Maxwell and Hoskins note, you have to have shared values.[3] We cannot merely just get along but we need to come together around a common agenda in a way that everyone plays their part and contributes what they have to give.

Jesus, when He came to the earth did not just come and do His part.  Rather, he gathered twelve disciples around Himself as well as many others and brought them together around a shared vision.   Then He set an example and taught them to put their all into that vision. As they said to Jesus themselves, they gave everything to follow Him. 

Jesus responded by reminding them of the spiritual principle that the more they put in, the more they will receive.   He told them in Matthew 19:29 (NIV), “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

At the end of the day, we need each other to accomplish our objectives.  Part of putting all in means recognizing that everyone plays a part and we all need each other.  In sharing the same vision and agenda, we come together and press in for more in a way that abounds what we get out.  And in the process, we build each other up and encourage each other to press in all the more.

Romans 12:4-5 (TPT) says, “In the human body there are many parts and organs, each with a unique function.  And so it is in the body of Christ.  For though we are many, we’ve all been mingled into one body of Christ. This means that we are all vitally joined to one another, with each contributing to the others.” 

I love this translation as it signifies that we not only belong to each other in this process of coming alongside each other and contributing our unique parts, but we are vitally joined to one another.    It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we become one.  God even demonstrates this in Himself as He operates as three unique heads but yet They together are all One God. 

In Mark 12:29, when asked what the most important command was, Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;” And inseparable from this He goes on to say in verse 30, “and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Pentecost was an example of everyone coming together as one, with a shared vision and desire for God.  As they pressed in  and sacrificed, the Spirit of the Lord came in power and they broke through, receiving abundantly for themselves as they were baptized with the Holy Spirit—speaking in other languages and had dancing tongues of fire upon their heads; But also, being joined together in unity as one and pressing in, they had broken through for all who would later come into the Kingdom to  receive from this baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

While this work was for all time, there comes a larger fulfillment and outpouring in the last days.  What happened at Pentecost in the opening of the heavens and the pouring out of the Spirit that we now can pull down and walk in, is going to come in full measure when Jesus returns with all His glory.   One article I quoted at the time notes:

“What happened at Pentecost was the former rain; that which is due now is the latter rain. The prophecy of Joel is of wider application than the experience at Pentecost. In the days of the early apostles God took some of the great reservoir of power and poured this out in mighty measure on that never-to-be-forgotten day. But the great remainder God reserves until the last days. Then the latter rain will fall, and in copious, abundant showers, in the finishing of the work of God. Observe the following from the Spirit of prophecy:” ‘ “The work will be similar to that of the day of Pentecost…The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening'”[4]

We will arise together and go out like calves from the stall. Bringing the good news to all around. He says to not only invite others in but to compel them. This is to convince them that there is freedom and hope for them. By the power of His Spirit, we bring the good news and help set the captives free. Ps. 35:10 says there is no other than the Lord who delivers the weak from a stronger one, and the needy from the one who robs them.

Let us not miss an opportunity to enter into anything You have for us.  We want to not only just show up but to be there early and willing to labor for Your purposes to come forth.  We see the abounding fruit that comes from joining hands and hearts;  We desire the fullness of Your Kingdom for this time and season.

Lord, I can see where some of my values, especially around integrity, have been misdirected when they weigh someone down for their failure to live up to them.  They have led to bad rather than good fruit.   Forgive me.   Let our eyes be set on the right values to lead and guide us into this season so that our lives would be flooded with your light and glory. 

3-4.  Maxwell, John C. and Hoskins, Rob. Change Your World: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Difference. HarperCollins Leadership, Nashville, TN. 2021.