²² The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. ²³ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Matthew 6:22

You’ve heard the phrase “The Eyes are the window to your soul”, written by William Shakespeare. There is much truth to these words, and he was probably inspired by this passage. In this passage, the eyes refers more to the soul than our physical eyes. The greek word for eye is ὀφθαλμός (opthalmos) which means eye or a figurative mind’s eye. The eye be single, this means a single focus, a focus on the one who made all, the father of light. When our soul is tuned only to His words in our life, we will glorify him, produce light, not physical light, but this is do His will, do good works unto men and women for His name sake. The soul, the core of our being is either Good and Healthy, or it’s sick, bad, even evil.

These are statements of facts, if your soul’s focus is on Christ, you produce light, if your soul’s focus is on anything but Christ, your in darkness, great terrible darkness. The light of the body, is really the idea of a lamp the greek word λύχνος (lychnos), a portable lamp or other illuminator. This is the output of the soul, the response of the soul. The KJV uses the word single, but the adjective in the greek is actually closer to the idea of perfection, or ἁπλοῦς (haplous), which means single, simple, sound, perfect.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, he writes this:

⁶Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and according to Christ. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

Colossians 2:6-9

The miracle of regeneration, where we are made a new spirit and soul, we are now, by God’s power, alive spiritually. Our focus, if we are a Christian, should be on Christ, our entire worldview is now Christcentric. We are not held captive by the world’s philosophy and empty lies, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, not the spirit of the world. This is now what Jesus is telling us, if we have a single focus on Him, then we produce much light and God is glorified.

Lord, today in me, you’ve given me a focus for you, may I not be distracted by the ramblings of this world, but keep my eye on You alone.