Messes To Masterpieces

No man, when he hath lighted a candle …. Luke 11:33  

The eye is perhaps the one body organ that silently, and visually reveals the condition of the heart and serves as a major sensory gateway into the secret chambers of the soul. We are familiar with the terms or phrases such as – eyes burning with rage, an “evil” eye, see the “pain in your eyes”, a glance that “cuts with a knife”, and a “twinkle in your eye”. It is even said that the eye is a reflection of your health. To add to this list, famous writers have referenced the majesty of the human eye such as “the window to your soul” (Shakespeare) and the “jewel of the soul” (Thoreau).

And exploration of the wonders of human vision has lost no traction with the scientific community. One of the early projects of artificial intelligence (AI) was to design a computer to digitize and simulate the neural pathways of human vision and give a computer the ability to see and identify objects (1). It is quite the task to conquer considering the human eye contains approximately 125 million photoreceptor cells (2).

But human vision simulation is only one piece of the equation. It is known that the eye serves purposes beyond just creating images of the outside world in the brain. The eye also integrates with other brain functions such as logic, reasoning, language, and even tapping into the wealth of basic human common sense (3). In short, human vision ventures beyond just what the eye sees and its complexity involves most of the neural networks of the brain. And science backs this up.

Medical science has shown the brain contains around 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) and approximately a hundred trillion synapses (4). Research has proven that it is almost logistically impractical to build a computer system that can simulate the processing power of the human brain. This is not to say it has not been attempted. The closest work done in this area is the SpiNNaker project (5).

The goal of this undertaking is to produce a computer design with 100,000 processing cores (note: the typical laptop or desktop PC has between 2 & 4 cores, with top-end gaming PC’s having only 16 cores (7)). Such a computer system can effectively emulate a meager 25 million brain neurons (6), simulating only 1% of total human brain capacity. Why say all this?

Over 2,000 years ago Jesus gave us clues to what science would much later discover concerning the complexity of the human visual apparatus. You see, to God, seeing involves more than having the physical capacity to read or arrive at a destination without getting lost, tripping, and running into things. To God, seeing moves far beyond a physical realm, and into a deeper spiritual dimension that forms the basis of our life – how we think, reason, what we communicate, our perception, and how others perceive us. Let’s take a “look” at this.

It All Begins With A Candle

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. Luke 11:34, 36

Jesus always uses perfect illustrations to reveal profound spiritual truths. He starts out talking about lighting a candle. What is the purpose of a candle? It is a light source. Its purpose is to illuminate the area it occupies and dispel darkness. He then goes on from talking about the external light of a candle to an internal light, the eye being the source of that light. What is Jesus communicating here about our eye being single? The Greek word for ‘single’ here is ἁπλοῦς (haplous – Strongs G573) and is used one other time in the NT (the other in Luk 11:34 in the same context of describing a single eye). The word means to be ‘folded together’, ‘ braided’ or ‘to twine’.

Considering the previously mentioned understanding that the eye integrates with other brain functions and capacities such as language, vocabulary, logic, and common sense, Jesus is emphatically saying this inner candle of light (inner spirit) cannot be conflicted or in conflict with other dimensions of our thinking. We can ‘say’ (vocabulary, knowledge) we have faith yet, at the same time, harbor fears and doubts (perhaps even unforgiveness, unbelief, anger, bitterness, strife, jealousy, etc.). All these things unfold or unravel this ‘singleness’ of light, resulting in the second condition Jesus refers to – an ‘evil’ eye that results in inner darkness. Here are some Biblical applications:

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. James 1:6

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:10-11

Jesus then goes on to say that when one attains this single eye (spiritually pure vision), they are then “full of light”. The phrase “full of light” is the Greek word φωτεινός  (phōteinos – Strongs G5460) which means lustrous, transparent, well illuminated, or full of light. The Bible records three instances where this very condition was physically manifested in Moses (Exo 34:29-30, 35), Jesus (Mat 17:2) and in Stephen (Act 6:15). Their faces “glowed” with an inner, luminous light – an eye being single and full of light.

God’s True Light of Life – From the Inside Out

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12  

Having established an understanding of what Jesus was conveying about having a single eye and its importance in walking with an inner light, he set the stage to reveal to us a radical concept of the function of vision. To Jesus, vision is not “seeing” things as they appear as when physical light enters the eye from the outside in. He is telling us that the beacon of light that guides our lives, spiritual light, derives its source from the eye which emanates light from the inside. This is the opposite of how light works in the physical realm where the light source is on the outside shining in. Jesus flips the concept of the passive role of the eye in the natural realm upside down. He reveals the real light of life shines from the inside out and not from the outside in!

The carnal person walks according to the affairs of this life by the light given by this world, a light that is actually darkness. The world’s light shines from the outside … in. Such is not the case for those who walk in the Spirit and guided by another light – the light of God’s word and Spirit:

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5:14

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

One thing is certain, as sin abounds and runs rampant in this world, God will use it to reveal His people who have the true light of God, God’s spirit that shines from the inside out. Think of this simple illustration, but somewhat profound. If you ride down a residential street in your city or town during the day, what do you see in the house windows? Nothing usually. Any light emitted from inside the homes through its windows is overpowered by the surrounding light of the daytime sun. However, ride down that same street during the evening and you will see a completely different picture. Now the windows of these same homes are illuminated by the lamps and light bulbs turned on, even those that were on during the day you could not see. The night or darkness reveals where the light is.

One window during the night can be illuminated by a single burning candle in the room (No man, when he hath lighted a candle …). The point is not so much the size of the light source. The key is that a light remains burning! Whatever faith you may have left, don’t let it go out! Keep your candle burning and defy the darkness. As the old, old, song of long ago goes:

Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith.
You don’t need a whole lot,
Just use what you’ve got!

In these last days, days becoming more and more dark, is now the time to let your life shine for God. As Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5 – where sin abounded, his grace did much more abound (vs. 5).

Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light! Ephesians 5:8  TPT