19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
~ Matthew 6:19-24 (ESV)
Have you ever read that passage above and wondered what the bit about the eye was doing in between the two parts about material things and greed? I’m not sure I ever really understood it … until I read it last week. And I can take no credit for this insight, LOL–it was in the notes. But oh, how clear it suddenly made it!
In Jewish tradition, the eye is considered the “lamp of the body.” The eyes are how we (normally) behold the world and recognize the situations around us. For most of us, our eyes give us our first impressions of people; we train ourselves to look more closely to notice details, to see beyond that first impression, but still, it’s a key part. It’s why words like vision encompass not only physical sight but also dreams and missions.
But the tradition is even richer than that. Eyes are also how we see our neighbors’ needs–they are how we recognize where to enact compassion. In this passage of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus isn’t talking about whether we need eyeglasses or not. No, He’s talking about that kind of sight, how well or poorly we truly see those around us. A common understanding of “bad eyes” and “good eyes” at the time was whether seeing those around you stirred you to compassion and almsgiving. If seeing the needs of others stirs you to do something to help them, then your eye was good. If not, it was bad.
Now suddenly this passage makes sense sandwiched between those two others, right? If you’re so concerned about the earthly treasures you’re trying to save up for yourself that you refuse to help someone in need, your eye is bad. Your eyes, which should be shedding light on your soul and shining it from your soul, is instead filling you up with darkness. You’re only seeing your wants instead of others’ needs. You’re blinded by greed.
And then what Jesus says next really hits home. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
If the very thing that should be light is not, then it’s just a matter of a lack we can shrug off. It’s not just that we’re “not doing a good enough job.” It’s that we’re actually spreading darkness–in ourselves and then from that broken lamp into the world. It’s not just that we’re not doing good–it’s that we’re doing harm.
If we are not serving God by loving others, then we are serving someone else. Mammon was the name of a pagan god of money. So if we’re more concerned with storing up wealth and doing what we want, then we are in fact worshiping this other god. You cannot both love money and love God.
We are called to love God and love others. And we’re called to demonstrate it in our actions, so that we are known by our fruits. This particular demonstration is for many of us, especially in the Western consumer culture, so difficult! Because yes, we need money. We need it to live and support our families and do the things He calls us to do.
So how do we strike that balance?
By never holding our treasures so close that we hesitate to give when our eyes see a need. By not evaluating that need based on what it will cost us, but on whether it will glorify Him to meet it.
Let’s never let anxiety for the future, for what we’ll eat or drink or wear tomorrow, keep us from helping someone today. We’re called to radical trust in God. Trust that He will care for us tomorrow–perhaps through someone else choosing to obediently meet our need. Can we get to the point where that is a joy–to receive help as surely as to give help? Can we walk in both humility and generosity?
Can we do it together? You shine that light for me…and I’ll shine it for you. And together, with our good eyes and our lamps shedding light onto our path, we can make our Way along the road He walked before us. The road that leads straight to the Kingdom of God.
The English word religion has been around a long time…like, as long as there was English. That’s no surprise, right? And also no surprise is that it has always carried the meaning of “action or conduct indicating belief in and reverence for a divine power one seeks to please” as well as “a life bound by monastic vows.”
What’s interesting is the root of this common word. It comes from Latin, which isn’t surprising either, but while the Latin religionem does indeed mean “respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods” and so on, Cicero is actually credited with creating this noun from the verb relegere, which literally means “go through it again” or “reread.”
Isn’t that interesting? I’d never thought about it that way, but systems of religion are indeed built on dwelling on thoughts, rereading sacred texts, going through it again and again and again. This is why pretty much every religion on the planet ends up with rites and rituals and creeds, Christianity being no exception. It’s through repetition that we learn a thing and discover its depths.
It’s also worth noting that many later ancients thought religionem was in fact derived from religare, which means “to bind fast.” So though we can, in fact, trace the word to Cicero, that “binding fast” has greatly informed its use and development as well.
Hi, guys! Here’s my video update from Friday, January 14, 2022.
In case you don’t have time to watch, here’s the gist. =)
My goal was to write 20,000 words this week, and so far I’m on schedule, with 16K written as of Thursday evening. I’m not sure I’ll actually hit my 4K goal today, because we’re heading down to the DC area this afternoon for dinner, but hopefully I can either get it in or make up for it over the weekend. Next week, more writing!
I have a new editor at Bethany House and got to meet her via Zoom yesterday, which was fun. And as you can see in the other post, I also got my first listen to the audio narrator selected for the Visibullis biblical fiction books!
My son, Rowyn, also had his 1-year lab work done after his Type 1 diagnosis, and I’m happy to report that everything else they check for–cholesterol, thyroid issues, Celiac (commonly go along with T1)–are are perfect!
It’s been so great getting to know all of you this week! Please chime in, either in comments here or in the app, with your updates or prayer requests!
Exciting news! So a couple months ago, I signed a contract with Tantor Audio to produce my biblical fiction (A Stray Drop of Blood, A Soft Breath of Wind, and Jewel of Persia) as audio books. Yay!
Well, they’re doing the casting now! I thought it would be fun to share with you guys the narrators as we select them. (By “select,” I mean that they send me their choice and I can veto it or approve it, LOL.)
So this is the narrator for Stray Drop and Soft Breath, Mary Sarah. She has quite the resume! I admit I wasn’t sure as I listened to the first paragraph or two, but by the end of this clip she had totally won me over. The passion and drama in her reading!!!
What do you think?
(We’re still nailing down Jewel of Persia‘s casting, but hopefully I’ll have that one to share next week.)
These are reflections that I usually ponder for obvious reasons during Holy Week, so I certainly didn’t expect to start a year off with a post about the cross. But during my prayer time last week, I was meditating on Jesus’ cross–the physical one, which both He and Simon the Cyrene carried–and something new occurred to me. And that is this:
When Jesus spoke so often throughout His ministry about us, His followers, taking up our crosses, He was certainly speaking about burdens and sacrifices, yes … but He knew something else about His own cross. He knew it wasn’t only about suffering and sacrifice. He also knew it was about PURPOSE.
Christ didn’t suffer and die and accept that burden of our sins for nothing. He did it for a purpose–the ultimate purpose. He did it for the salvation of all mankind.
We know this, of course … but have we ever paused to apply that to our crosses? Maybe you have, but it had never come to me in quite that way before. That He is calling us to take up our purpose. Our calling. He is calling us to walk that out every day. He is calling us to obey and act and carry it into our lives. Up that hill.
Is it a sacrifice? Yes. It is sometimes hard and heavy? Yes. Do we do it anyway? Yes. Because it’s worth it. He is worth it. Working for Him and His Kingdom is worth it.
We have many jobs in our lives, many things that employ our time. We celebrate the dignity of work, of earning, of enabling the survival of the families with whom God has trusted us.
But we are also ALL called to follow Him, first and foremost. We are called to go forth, every day and every week, and shine His light into this dark world. We are called to take up His cross, His passion, His purpose for our own and share about the salvation of mankind. To share in that salvation. We are called to go and to do and to obey.
For a purpose. His purpose. The purpose of the Cross.
How are we walking that out in our daily lives? How are we focusing first and foremost on it in our other work? Is everything we do for the purpose of the Cross … or are we at cross-purposes with Him?
What do we need to reevaluate as this year begins to align ourselves more fully with His purposes?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.