Staying Filled with Light in Dark Times

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness” (Luke 11:34, NLT).

I was having my daily talk with my husband, Israel, this afternoon. We haven’t seen each other for almost two months, due to the travel freeze in Peru. He hasn’t been able to get home, and so has endured seven weeks of complete solitary isolation in a tiny room. On top of it all, he passed a kidney stone last week! So we were talking about hardship, and the importance staying focused in the midst of it.

Our verse for today provides absolutely wonderful insight into this subject, letting us into God’s secret for keeping our whole being full of His light. It’s all in the eye. To be more specific, it’s all in the eye’s focus. “When your eye is good…” The Greek there for “good” is haploús, and it means “single.” Jesus is telling us here that when our eye is singularly focused on Him, this is what allows our entire inner space to be full of heavenly light.

The Classic Edition of the Amplified Translation puts it this way: “When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God]…” So yes, it’s all about our focus, and where we point it!

Israel and I were agreeing that keeping the eyes of our hearts focused on the Father is so important right now. Of course, this is always utterly important. But now, more than ever, we need this truth to anchor our souls during these challenging times. During such a season of uncertainty, if we have our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can be absolutely full of light… in spite of the dark circumstances going on around us.

Not only that, but our gracious Lord has mandated us with a responsibility to live this way. In the next verse, He goes on to say to us, “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness” (v. 35). In other words, make sure you are not focusing on the wrong things.

There are two options to choose between, when it comes to fixating our focus. One is on the earthly realm. This option includes what our five physical senses can take in. It also includes what we can see the enemy doing in the world that we love. His activities are blaringly obvious. They receive all of the media’s attention. When we start fixating on these distressing aspects of the physical realm, then we allow our inner being to fill with dark shadows.

The second, and immeasurably better option, is to instead focus on what our spiritual senses can perceive: God’s realm. The heavenly places. We can learn to train our hearts’ eyes and ears to listen and watch for the Father’s activities. As Jesus taught us, “My Father never stops working” (John 5:17, NCV). Every day, every minute, every single millisecond, Daddy God is active in our world.

He is not less busy than the adversary. On the contrary, He is far busier. He has infinitely more resources than the evil one. His armies are vastly greater in number, in weaponry, and in power. He is not reacting to what has happened recently in frantic panic mode. On the contrary, He is moving forward in steadfast, immovable confidence with the plans He drew up before the creation of the world.

We can learn to tune into His movements and sync our spirits with His. When we do so, the next verse in our passage for today becomes our reality: “If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light” (Luke 11:36, NLT).

A floodlight! Now, that is a whole lot of light! Hm… let our inner space be filled with darkness… or let it be filled with radiant light… No contest, right?

Daddy God, teach us to fix our eyes on Your realm!            

(Tune in tomorrow for a follow up discussion of this topic…)

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What is your favorite strategy to help re-center your focus when you feel scattered?