These Sayings of Mine – Get Focused; Stay Focused

If you have been following along with this series, you have by now realized that the Sermon on the Mount is about more than following a list of do’s and don’ts. Oh, it could be understood and taught that way, but Jesus is after more than checklist obedience. He came to save that which was lost, to build His church, and to commission disciples. He intends to lead us, make us and use us to make others.

Such a life requires more than passive or casual compliance. Disciples are disciplined; focused on the mission; and focused on one Master.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 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! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:22-24

Every once in a while the translators get it wrong. Here in the NKJV, they have translated the Greek word haplous as “good”. Haplous is not translated as “good” anywhere else in the New Testament. It seems they chose “good” as the opposite of “bad”. This is understandable, but it does not do justice to the meaning of this saying.

The primary meaning of haplous is “simple, single”. The KJV uses “single”. On the surface, it does not make sense that the opposite of bad is single. However, in the context of the following verses it makes very good (no pun intended) sense.

Jesus chose His words carefully. An eye that is not singularly focused is bad. Therefore, we can understand this passage to be saying, “If your eye is not singularly focused, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

The Eye of Our Heart

It is important to recognize that this passage is not another disconnected thought. This eye that we must keep focused is the eye of our heart (see verse 21). Jesus is continuing to press the point about our treasures. Lay them up in heaven, and the eye of your heart be focused there. Makes sense, right?

Furthermore, if you lay up on earth, your focus will be bad… and “your whole body will be full of darkness”. This is a serious and sobering warning; particularly for those that are attempting to hedge their bets by storing up in heaven and on earth. The metaphor is perfect: You simply cannot focus your eye, at the same time, on objects ten and one hundred feet away. Your bad eye will eventually give you a headache.

These Sayings of Mine – Lay Up Treasures in Heaven (Part 3)

This saying of Jesus, now in its third part, has gotten more attention that the previous ones, for a couple of reasons. Personally, this saying has been especially challenging in my life. I was raised to save for my retirement, and the world has only encouraged that approach for my future security.

God is using this bit of writing to test my heart. In it, I will be either convicted of sin, forgiven and made free, or I will find peace in my stewardship of His provision. I expect the former will lead to the latter.

Secondly, I have a responsibility as a disciple of Jesus Christ to make disciples through my writing. I am hopeful that He is using this to test and prove your heart; for Satan, the world and our flesh have deceived us in regards to this matter of laying up treasures for ourselves.

If you have not explored the “do not” of parts 1 and 2, you should do that before proceeding here. The process and its order are important. Once we have dealt with the deception of earthly treasures, we can turn our attention to the second part of this saying – the part we are to do.

Again, for our reference:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

An Eternal Perspective

One of the greatest inhibitors to our hearing and doing this saying is our lack of faith and perspective for eternity. Let’s face it: Most of us spend the greater part of our lives laying up wealth so we can enjoy the last feeble portion of our seventy or eighty years here on earth. We are so focus on investing for retirement that we fail to lay up for that portion of our life that is immeasurable in its duration.

Dare to think about that for a moment. It may be the most liberating thought you have ever had. Francis Chan gives a wonderful illustration of this in a video that has been posted on YouTube. Go ahead and take a look. It is only four or five minutes.

These Sayings of Mine – Lay Up Treasures in Heaven (Part 2)

One way to avoid doing what Jesus is saying is to avoid hearing it in the first place. However, this avoidance strategy does not make us less liable; nor our houses less susceptible to the storms of life. God will not have us live this way. He cares too much for our salvation and well-being (Luke 6:24).

That seems to be God’s purpose in these articles – to encourage our hearing; that we might grow in faith – trusting Him to provide the grace to do what Jesus is saying. So, let’s press in to hear, that we might do (and not do). For our reference, here is the saying we are trying to hear.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

What are Your Earthly Treasures?

Part 1 encouraged a pause for reflection and prayer; particularly around this question: What are the treasures you have laid up, or treasured, on earth? If you have not done so, please read Part 1; and heed its encouragement.

These Sayings of Mine – Lay Up Treasures in Heaven (Part 1)

Some sayings of Jesus are not very difficult to hear or do. For example, Do Not Swear at All. Others are easy to hear, but difficult to do (Be Extraordinary; Be Perfect). Then there are those that are difficult to do, simply because we have a hard time hearing them. Our next saying of Jesus is a good case in point.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

This saying is particularly hard to hear for those in the church that are tempted – and even presently deceived – by the American Dream. Consequently, I am concerned that I may lose a few of you on this one. To be honest, I may lose myself. It is a hard saying; probably one that Jesus used to drive away those that were less than serious about following Him.

So, before you turn away, let me encourage you: We are all in process; and our heavenly Father is sensitive to our place in the race. Consequently, this passage may not mean to you what it means to me – but it must mean something. Rather than run away from its meaning, trust God to reveal what you are to hear; and to give you the grace to do it.