Enlightened

Pro 22:11 He who loves pureness of heart, grace is on his lips; the king shall be his friend.

What Jesus wanted to teach by the analogy of the eye and the lamp is that everything we see depends on the condition of the lamp. If the lamp is dim, we won't see very clearly. If our eye is dim, diseased, the whole body will be darkened.

Similarly, if the lamp is burning brightly, we see things as they are. We recognize the books upon the table and the photographs upon the wall. But if the lamp is flickering or smoky, everything is distorted or obscured; so it is with the eye.

If we are color-blind, we cannot see the glorious redness of the rose. If we are nearsighted, we cannot see the friend who is signaling to us from a little distance. If we suffer from impending cataracts, we cannot clearly distinguish a friend sitting next to us.

Still, the rose is red, though we cannot see it in our color blindness. Still, the friend is waving to us or seated by our side.

There is nothing wrong with reality. The trouble is that we are seeing badly.

Now Jesus tells us that the eye can be either single (healthy), or it can be evil. As the eye brings good or evil impressions to the body so the heart of man is that organ by which the spiritual self is enlightened. The heart can be single or evil.

Luk 11:33 No one, when he has lighted a lamp, puts it in a secret place, or under a grain-measure, but on a lampstand, so that they who come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is sound, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light in you is not darkness. 36 Therefore if your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the shining of a lamp enlightens you.

Taste and See:

There was a young boy who was returning home from a store with a pail of honey in his hand.

A gentleman who walked beside him saw him slip one finger down into the pail.

Then, because his mother had told him never to wipe his sticky fingers on his blouse or trousers, it found its only logical destination, his mouth. It really tasted good.

After he had done this several times, the gentleman approached him and said, "See here, Sonny, what have you in that pail?" "Some honey, sir." "Honey-is it sweet?" "Yes, sir." "How sweet is your honey?" "It is very sweet, sir." "Well, I do not understand you. I asked you how sweet your honey was, and you have not yet told me. How sweet is it?" "Why, it is very, very sweet, sir." "Well, you are a funny little fellow; I asked you how sweet your honey is, and you just tell me it is very, very sweet. Now, can't you tell me really how sweet your honey is?" The little fellow was impatient by this time, so he stuck his finger down into the honey, and holding it up said, "Taste and see for yourself."

It was Dwight L. Moody who said;

"Many men fold their arms and say, 'If I am one of the elect-in other words, one of those God willed to be saved-I shall be saved; and if I am not, I shall not. No use bothering about it.' I have an idea," he said, "that the Lord Jesus saw how men were going to stumble over this doctrine of election, so after He had been thirty or forty years in heaven, He came down and spoke to John. On the Lord's Day in Patmos He said to him: 'Write these things to the churches.' John kept on writing. His pen flew very fast. Then the Lord, when it was nearly finished, said: 'John, before you close the book, put in one more invitation: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." ' "