Read Luke 11:33-36; Matthew 6:22-23
When a candle is lit, there it is, whether people can see it or not. A blind man does not perceive the light, though it may be shining very brightly. If a man likes to go in the dark, I should say he has some bad motive in his heart, or else his eyes are bad and cannot bear the light. But if my eyes are healthy, I joy in the light. So the Word is painful to one who does not have clear eyesight, who has not the single eye. When the soul is in health, there is full perception of the Word; the whole body is full of light, having no part dark.
This is a most solemn word to us all. A person, converted only yesterday, may be full of light, though he may, in many things, need the teaching of God. Still, it applies as much to the babe in Christ as to the grown man. If we are only faithful to the light, God will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear. But there is a teaching of God, when God Himself is in the soul; then everything is seen in God’s light.
If a man walks in the day, he does not stumble; if he is walking in the night, he has to think which turn to take, but if walking in the daylight, he may walk on without thought.
The Eye Receives the Light
“When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light ... having no part dark.” When the candle is there, we see all around; the light shows itself, and by itself shows everything around.
The eye receives the light. The light never varies; it is the eye which varies. The eye is either single or evil. It is not said single or double, but single or evil. “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” “If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” “The light of the body is the eye.” If Christ be my object, my whole body will be full of light. If not, it will be all darkness, since it is either all Christ or it is all evil, however religious it may appear.
If I have only Christ as my object, all is simple, although I may have difficulties to overcome. If following Christ only, in a world that is entirely opposed to Him, it must inevitably lead to difficulties in the path; still the path will be plain and simple.
The light is set on a candlestick, “that they which come in may see the light.” Therefore one is forced into this question: Do you see it or not? Christ has set up the light in the world. He was in the world, and for the world, but does the world see the light? God has displayed Himself fully in Christ, and if Christ has displayed Himself to your soul, the effect of that will be to manifest your condition. Do you say, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father?” (Luke 9:59). If so, there comes out this secret, that you have something in your heart that is taking precedence there over Christ.
When I do not find my body full of light in any given circumstance, I know there is something not single in my eye — something that has not yet given way before the power of Christ. There is something not yet given up, or something perhaps that has come in. If I am keeping anything in my heart besides Christ, my conscience is bad, and my eye being evil, my whole body is full of darkness. People often say they cannot see: Of course they cannot, when they are trying to see with some other light. Moreover, that which they do see will quickly be given up, if they are not walking in the power of that which they now possess. How often have we seen saints who have had light and departed from it, having even that light taken from them. Such, indeed, may get an easier conscience perhaps, but then it is on a much lower level.
The Single Eye
The “single eye” relates to the state of our desires and affections. Even the common affairs of life may hinder the unqualified spirit of Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His Word. But the admonition is, “Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness.” If our standard is not Christ, the light in us will become darkness. If we have taken for our measure something that is not Christ, and Christ alone, the manner of our judging will be wrong, and the light in us having become darkness, we shall be guided wrong and mistake our path.
But if the eye is full of Christ and we judge everything by that light, when we see anything that would not glorify Christ, we say, That will not do for us. The vessel may be small, but it must be wholly for Christ.
May we be walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and by the divine teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, contented to walk with Him, desiring no other path. Let us have our eye upon Him, and upon Him only, so that when other objects are put before us, we may be able to say, It will not do for me, for it is not Christ. Oh! may we be simple concerning evil, in a world of evil. May we be so occupied with Christ that there may be no room for it to come in, not making it our business to judge the evil, but remain simple concerning it. And may Christ be so the one object of my heart and affections that I may have no dark corner within. May the Holy Spirit make Him the center round which every thought and desire of my soul is entwined.
Girdle of Truth, Vol. 5 (adapted)