September 4 - the eye

September 4 - Treasures in Heaven

As I was getting ready to do this podcast, Kristi had left the tv on in our room with Top Gun playing. The original one from way back when I was a teenager. . . . It’s a classic. I can quote about half of the movie. Partly because I love fighter jets. I think the coolest thing on earth would be to fly one. Did you know that out of the 10’s of thousands that actually get chosen to go into flight school in the navy, les than a dozen get chosen from that class to fly a jet. They really are the best of the best. 

But what has always baffled me, is this image of an F-18. You have all that weight and power in a machine that is controlled by a small pilot sitting at the nose of the plane. They control everything from right there in the front of the ship. So if you were to picture it, the F-18 hornet is 56 feet long by 40 feet wide. It has between 17K and 22K pounds of thrust. And the pilot sits in front of it all. So all of the power, thrust, and machine, is sitting behind the pilot, and yet a mere 6’ person controls the entire thing. 

They move the joystick one direction, the plane follows. They push the thrusters harder, the speed and G force increases. 

This reminds me of the body. 

There are around 78 different organs in the body, making her 35k decisions a day, the brain is constantly at work. 650 muscles stretch throughout the entire body, making the human frame capable of lifting, siting, walking, running, stretching, jumping, hopping, reaching, pulling, pushing. . . . making hundreds upon hundreds of different motions and actions. There are said to be 6 basic emotions with thousands of variations to these emotions that the human body experiences, causing the body to process about 1 billion chemical reactions a second. The human body is complex!!!!!

And yet, there is one organ that seems to control and navigate the entire body. THE EYE. .  . 

You see something, and it has a complex reaction throughout the entire processing of your body. It might bring you joy, anxiety, love, fear. . . .You see something you want, and it causes your to yearn, long for, covet, or scheme. . . You see something like a beautiful sunset and it can bring you peace while settling your soul. 

Your eye, is a portal into your entire soul. 

And while we talked about your heart and how it wants what it wants, and continually pulls you in a direction you don’t even want to go. . . The eye is the thing that lets in the passion that controls the heart in the first place. 

For instance, if I didn’t see the Rivian store in the Irvine Spectrum mall, I would never have drooled over it in the first place. But they have the SUV Rivian - known as the R1S in this deep dark forest green with gold handles. . . and the inside is so smooth and nice. . . I can’t stop thinking about it. Had I not seen it, I never would have lost precious time dreaming about something I don’t need and will never own. . But I saw it. . . So now. . . I can’t stop thinking about it. 

There is something like this for you too! You’ve seen something that you want, and now you can’t stop thinking about it. 

You can let it control you. . . Or you can learn to control your heart. We talked about that. But Jesus brings it to a new level in the Sermon on the Mount. We can say we are trying to control it. But if we don’t put some work into it, there is no proof that we have mastery over it. 

Listen to the next part of the sermon on the mount. 

6:19-24

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 

See how Jesus handles this topic. He starts by talking about how you spend your money, and then ends with the ideas that you can’t serve God and money. And right in the middle of it, he addresses the thing that controls the entire ship - your eye. 

When you let things in through your eye, they are feeding your body what you will focus on. So if you - like me - are a person who constantly wants new and shiny. . . you will begin to make that what you are serving. Suddenly, you are spending money and wasting time, chasing after things that eventually just fade away anyway. 

So, you have to make a hard decision. . . What will you devote your attention to with what you look at. Here is a better way to understand this.  Because I know you can’t help but see something as you are driving down the road that really excites you. But let’s take it deeper and further. Your eyes can see something, but you have to tell them to look at something. I can see shiny new gadgets, but it is up to me to do the research to look into them. I don’t have to. I just want to. . . 

I can make this real deep, but let me gloss over a few subject matters. . . . You can see something no the internet, but not look into it. You can see someone of the opposite sex that isn’t your spouse, but you can control yourself from looking at them. . . You can see a chance to do something un-ethical or even illegal, but you can also control yourself from looking into it. 

See what you let into your eyes,. Will also determine what you spend your time and money on. It’s the front line of defense. You have the chance to let health in, or allow darkness to fill you.  And it all happens with what you allow yourself to look for. Let the wrong thing in, eventually you have spent all your time, money, and resources chasing after something you were never meant to have. . . . And now, your life is in shambles.

Or look for things that are pure. . .Eventually you have aligned your life to pursue the things that matter. It’s why Paul encourages us in Philippians 4:8 to meditate on things that are right. It’s looking into these things and letting them into your heart and mind so they steer the ship in the right direction. Listen to what he says. . . 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. 

Practice looking for these things. Read, watch, and meditate on things that are pure, lovely, admirable, praiseworthy. . . 

If you allow yourself to look for things that are not of this list, you will allow yourself to go somewhere you never thought you would be. It will master you.  . . . 

So here is the challenge. . . 

First, wrestle with your priorities right now. What have you allowed yourself to look for that has started controlling you in any way? What do you need to do in order to cut it out? 

Wrestle with the idea of looking intentionally into things that Paul describes in Philippians. Then practice giving your time, attention, money, and resources to those things. See, Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The spending of your resources actually begins to direct your heart. Look for ways to support God’s work. Find things that you can invest in that lead you to the things of God. Intentionally make them priority in your life. If you do, you will begin to shift your heart, and store up treasures in heaven. 

Listen friends, I love you. . . as you wrestle with this, I pray that you begin to understand what you believe, and why you believe it to be true. And as you look for the things of God, and align your heart with Him and His plan, May God Bless you!