Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Welcome to Bible in Focus and today we will be looking at two important Scriptures that will lead us into the mind of God concerning us as a people. And today, we will be looking at Matthew 6:22-23. It says: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” that is what we will be starting with today on Bible in Focus.
Mr. Adedeji: Now if you look at that Scripture: Matthew 6:22-23, there is an account here, especially a word from the Lord Jesus. For most of us, this portion is written in red font and so, we can see this is the word of the Lord to us the disciples. Now, the question is: what was the intention of Jesus for giving this word? Was He focusing on physical blindness? Was He focusing on us, our body, our physical attributes or what He trying to convey a spiritual meaning with a physical thing that we are familiar with? Now, if you look at that verse 22, it says: “The lamp of the body is the eye…” That is indisputable. You don’t have to dispute that. We know it that you and I see with our eyes. You are able to recognize light around you with your eyes. If you close your eyes, no matter the number of lights around you, no matter the degree or intensity of such light, you are not even able to discern that there is a light somewhere for you because you have closed the means through which you can recognize the light. So, the Scripture began with “The lamp of the body…” which in other word can be the light of the body, is the eye. If therefore your eye… which is the lamp of the body, which is the eye, which is the light of your spirit, and the light of your soul, if your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. This is the ideal state. It is expected that our eye should be good. So, if you have a good eye, it is not accidental, that is the normal thing. When you are created by God, God created you physically with a good eye. And so, that is not also the ultimate intention. You have a physical eye and Jesus is giving this picture because there is something Jesus intends us to see.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Yes! There is something He is communicating to us.
Mr. Adedeji: It says: But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness… showing us two scenarios. But those are just preambles. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. That is one. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. That is another scenario. Now, haven gotten those two perspectives, this is what the Lord is saying now. He says: If therefore the light that is in you… it is not just on you. Of course, when you talk about the eye of the body being the eye, your eye is on you. But the Bible says: if the eye that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: And that is an irony. How can the light be darkness? And Jesus had already given us two scenarios that if your eye is good, your entire body will be full of light, it will be flooded with light. So, if something, for example; your finger nails are dirty, your eye can spot it and help you take care of it and you do something in that respect. But imagine your eye is bad, you can’t notice or recognize or identify what is going on around your life or around your body. So, Jesus made those two scenarios for us to be able to identify and recognize something He was going to communicate at the latter part of this verse.
Mr. Adedeji: And the issue is not: do you have eye or don’t you have eye? It is not about that at all. But what is the condition of the eye? You see, the condition of the physical eyes is what determines the state of your being physically. Now, beyond this, the condition of your inner eye, the condition of the eye of your soul, eye of your spirit is what determines the state or the welfare of your spiritual being. So, if your entire personality is full of darkness, is full of corruption, is full of mistakes, is full of evil; is full of trials and errors, is full of many things nobody wants to envy, it is rooted in your vision, in the eye that is in you.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Yes! So, Jesus is saying to us that your eye is a gateway into your being. So, just like your physical eyes is a gateway into your entire body, the same way the light of your spirit is a gateway into your spiritual being which is the real core of your being. So, Jesus is saying to us that if therefore the light that is in you is now corrupted…
Mr. Adedeji: So, the question is: "What kind of light is in you? What kind of light is in me?" Because the issue is not on whether I have light in me or I don’t have light in me, what is the nature or the condition of the light? If we come out of that and we look at what light is meant for, light is meant to give you a sense of clarity; you know where to go and you know what to do. Now, if the things that you use to make sense of light is not good, is darkness, how great is that darkness? So, we can begin to see this light in the sense of the knowledge that you have. You know – there is a way you will know to a point that you make right decision. There is also a way you know to the point that you make wrong decisions. Everything you do is build around your knowledge. So, whether you do things or you don’t do things is simply because you know it. So, how good is the knowledge that you have? Has your knowledge produced in you good behavior? You remember that place Jesus said “make the tree good and the fruits will be good. And He also says make the tree bad and the fruits will be bad. He says for a tree is known by its fruits.” And when we are talking about a tree, it is not about the physical tree, it is about us as individuals.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: The life! Make the life good and the result the life produces will be good.
Mr. Adedeji: The behavior, the character, the attributes, the qualities. So, if you want to have a different future, because I see that darkness as a future. It says: If therefore the light that is in you… your basis for making decisions, your judgment capacity, is darkness, it is like Jesus qualifying your knowledge as darkness, it says: how great is that darkness? How great is that end, that pathetic end? That end that is less than glorious?
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: How great would be the end of that life, how great that life would turn out in darkness? So, it is important for us to know that the knowledge you use in navigating your life must be light. It must be good knowledge; it must be sourced in God. In John chapter one, the Bible records very emphatically that: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It said in that word is life and the word gives light to every man that comes into the word.
Mr. Adedeji: So, the question is: "The light that you have in you, is it the light of the word of God or is it the light around you, of the world which is great darkness?" So, if your life would not follow after the order of darkness, it must follow after the right light. The knowledge that you have, that you pattern your life after, must be the knowledge that is sourced in God. Because the truth is while you could know things from God, you could also know things from anywhere. There are many marriages today that are patterned after the things they watch in Hollywood
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Different bodies of knowledge.
Mr. Adedeji: Yes! There are people who conduct their financial activities based on the things they were taught in school. You see, there is nothing you know how to do that you have learnt outside of God that you cannot also learn in God. What only happens is that what you learn in God is the true light, it lightens your entire personality.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Hmn! It affects every areas of your life. It makes you whole and complete.
Mr. Adedeji: Yes! It is not as if your head is brightened and your body is dark, no. it is a flood light which floods you with all light. It is not as if your marriage has some light and your finance has darkness. It is not as if your marriage has some light and your interaction with other people has darkness. It is not as if you are good in one aspect, you are bad in other aspect. You must be all round. The same light that you get from God must be able to flood your finance, flood your marriage, flood your business, flood everything about your life.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: You know what came to my heart is this: imagine if you flip this Scripture around, the later part, if therefore the light that is in you is TRUE LIGHT, HOW GREAT IS THAT LIGHT! How great your life would be if the light in you is the true light, the truth, the word of God. Imagine if what you have to navigate your entire life with is the knowledge of the truth, how great the light of your life would be?
Mr. Adedeji: Imagine a man who expects his wife to behave in a certain manner. Now the question is: the behavior that the man expects of his wife, where has he sourced that behavior, the expectation? Has he sourced it from the traditions of men in corruption or has he sourced it from the Lord? Now, when you say your wife is not behaving well and because of that you consider it to be an irreconcilable difference; have you sourced the difference, the expectation, have you sourced it in God? Now when you have certain expectations of people, is it because God gave that expectation? You know this is very serious. You could even have an organization and people behave in different manners and you have an expectation, “I want my people to behave like this”, is it an expectation that God gave you of them? God said “this man is supposed to be so and so and based on the man he must be, advise him, counsel him, lead him into that.” Is it you who just figure it out that this is who this man must be, let me guide him into it? You know, when we are talking about light and darkness, we are talking about this insight you have on a matter, this idea that you have on this matter, is it the one that God has given to you or the one that you have sourced from yourself or around you?
Before you start throwing in the towel, before you start thinking nothing good can come out of you or around you or out of the things that you are doing, you must start asking: this expectation and aspiration that I have, where am I getting it from? Is it the one that has come from the Lord or the one that I have given to myself? Because it says: if therefore the light that is in you, this burden that you have, this desires that you have, this expectation, this aspiration, this your vision statement, if it is darkness or sourced in darkness… You see, the Bible says there is no darkness with God at all. So, if you have gotten your ideas from darkness, we know there is kingdom of light and there is kingdom of darkness, if you have sourced your idea, your burden, your passion from darkness, how great is that darkness? How great is that failure that is looming ahead of you? Because if God has not giving you, if God has not commanded a thing, God cannot support, God cannot finance, God cannot make it happen. If God didn’t give you a desire to start a project, and you have decided to start it, don’t then expect God to fund it. So, it is important we start probing, how am I getting things that I am getting? These things in me, this next agenda I want to live for, how is it sourced?
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Do you understand what the Lord is saying to us? Now if your eye is good, the expectation you have for your body to be full of light will naturally come to pass. But if your eye is bad and you have an expectation of a body that is supposed to be full of light, it would not work. It won’t work because you don’t expect to reap from the tree that produces mango fruits orange fruits. It does not work. It is whatever you sow that you will reap. The lamp of your body which is your eye, if the condition is good, if the nature is good, then your whole body will be full of light. But if it is not good, it is bad, then your whole body, you don’t need to fast and pray, your whole body will be full of darkness. And that is why it is important for us to know as believers that there are some things that have been scripted in the word of God, they are principles, stated principles that governs our lives as believers. God has made it clear for us today that if you want your body to be full of light, then your eye has to be good. That means you must source your knowledge in God. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. So, every time you want your eye to be good, then you must go and find that knowledge to navigate that season or that area of your life in God. Any time you go outside of God, then you have gone into darkness.
Mr. Adedeji: That is it! Because God is the king of light, He is a Father of light. You move outside of Him; you have gone into darkness. You see, Jesus didn’t sugarcoat it. He didn’t say good, not too good, not too bad, there is no middle ground. You see, Jesus said if your eye is bad, He called it the name it is, then you have darkness. And if your eye is good, you have a great light. That is it!!! A great future ahead of you. So, it is important you sit down and meditate on these verses, Matthew 6:22-23, start asking the right questions, start directing your questions to the right sources. Don’t go in search of what to do outside of God; ask God what to do, ask Him to guide you. God is able to give you direction, He is able to give you a new idea, He is able to give you a new project you should start working on, and when God shows up like that, He will never disappoint you. God can’t give you a burden and He is no where to be found in helping you to ease the burden. If the burden must be lifted, if it came from God, the resources, the strength, the will to do it will come from God. You must trust Him; you must depend on Him. Don’t source your things in life in darkness and in light at the same time. Don’t be mixed up, don’t be a mixed multitude in the kingdom of God. Don’t be a man who functions in the light on Sundays and functions in darkness throughout the week. Let your week be full of light that comes from God and as you do this, I believe your whole life will be full of light, your marriage, your whole ministry will be full of light and God will be glorified in your life.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Thank you for investing your time, you have been such a beautiful company with us on Bible in Focus, we are excited to have you join us and to share with you the principles of God’s word. Till we come your way again, stay blessed.
