What are you looking at?

Now, I have said this to a few people- and certainly it wasn’t meant to be answered- rhetoric question or statement, I’d say, meaning – you better turn your head or I will run you over. Okay, maybe not so Christian like but hey! If you’re going to get out of your car at a gas station and watch me vacuum my car rugs, I will both ask you this question and then proceed to beat you with vacuum hose until you get back in your car. People are so rude, I’d give more examples, but we have a lesson to learn today. My lovely attitude is the result of living among many rude people in this section of the world. If you don’t like my reaction , then I have to ask – what are you looking at? because it’s time to look at YOU- and ask yourself, hey! what am I looking at?

My post today is for each one of us to look at what we’re looking at, what did I see today? where are my eyes going? What is in my minds eye? What am I thinking about?  I didn’t realize, or maybe I didn’t want to realize… the importance of being careful of both what we see and what we imagine in our own eyes.

Scripture has a lot to say on this – it even mentions that false teachers prophecy over the false things they imagine, and I bet they even think they are true prophets in their own eyes.

We will go over a few verses I want you to think about:

1-Matthew 14: And when peter had comedown out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, saying  Lord! Save me!

Peter was perfectly fine walking on water when he kept his eyes on Jesus, but WHEN HE LOOKED at what was coming against him, he sank. When his eyes were taken off Jesus, fear crept in and when fear crept in, he fell. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, nothing can stop us. When we look ahead at Jesus and not our problems, we will be victorious. Consider my favorite tree in Jeremiah 17:7-8, even though winds, storms and drought came along, the tree stood tall, always yeilding fruit and always growing because it’s roots ran deep along the river – it never had to fear or be afraid

2-Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

It doesn’t get any more obvious than this verse. What you see sinks deep in your heart and then into your life. Keep the dirt out of your heart and your life will be right.

3-Genesis 30:31 So he said, “What shall I give you?”And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: ³² Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. ³³ So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that isnot speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”³⁴ And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” ³⁵ So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons.³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.⁷ Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.  Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock. And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.  But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.  Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

This is where this entire post started – what!  Somehow when the animals gazed or saw with their eyes- a certain outcome would happen – how can this be? The white of the trees were exposed to the goats, lambs and sheep so they would conceive. I’m not claiming to know what is going on here – but Jacob- and we know he’s done his fair share of deceiving – had a trick up his sleeve, he knew if the gaze of the animals was on this white peel (and by the way Laban means white) that something would happen- all because they saw this white peel from one of the three trees.

 

4-Matthew6:22 “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!

How can your eye be good or bad. You eye can only see, it can’t go out and do good works so a good eye has to see good things and a bad eye- well, it’s got it’s eye on darkness. What you see effects your body -physical and spiritual. Stop watching lifetime movies! Geeeesh, I’m preaching to myself here…..

5-Numbers 21:6-9     Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died.  So the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, so that He will remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten will live when he looks at it.”⁹ So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on the pole, and it happened that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

” People! Look at this shrewd snake, when you gaze upon it, you will be healed and you will live”  It seems like another punishment to look at the snake, why would God want them to look at what would hurt them – I don’t know, but I do know that its important because Jesus brought it up again in the New testament-

6-John 3:9-16 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be possible?”  Jesus replied,“You are the [great ] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]?  I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we know and testify about what we have  seen [as yewitnesses]; and you  do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man[Himself—whose home is in heaven].  Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze]serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],  so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life  “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him[as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

One of the worlds best known bible verses, John 3:16, was during a conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. This verse immediately follows the verse where Jesus mentions the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses… isn’t that strange?  Maybe it means we looked to the serpent before – because of our sin beginning in the garden, but now we look to Jesus. Either way, whatever  the mystery, in the same way the people received life by looking at the serpent, we also receive life – eternal life, by looking to the Son of Man who was lifted up on the cross. I’m sure Nicodemus remembered these words as he saw Jesus lifted on the cross on the dark afternoon when the earth shook and Jesus died.

7-Luke 6:42 How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

I know, I know , it is so much easier to look at the faults and defects of others, I mean they have sooooo many! It’s really amazing that we can see how wrong others are even though that big log is in our own. Remember, when you judge others, you will also stand under the same judgment – by others, yes – I’m talking about today. That verse isn’t saying that you’ll get whats coming to you on judgement day – no, it’s instant, maybe tomorrow. Let’s clean up our own eyes first, our own imaginations, yes, that’s the plan.

8-Genesis 3:5“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

The result of Eve’s first act of disobedience was that her eyes were open to sin – to shame, fear and her nakedness- and they obviously learned how to blame someone else. The man blamed the woman and the woman blamed the snake.  So the result of disobedience was open eyes – isn’t that odd…. there’s more to this, but put it in your brain library.

9- Numbers 33:55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live.Judges 7:17Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.Judges 14:1[ Samson’s Riddle ] One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye.When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”Judges 16:21So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eye They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.Judges 16:28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.”

Samson’s eye caused him to sin, then his eyes were gauged out and his last hour he brought revenge for the loss of his eyes.Matthew 18:9And if your eyecauses you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Look again at the above verse. It says to drive the people out of the land, can you think of any people who live in your land that have now become as ‘splinters in your eyes’?

10 –Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.

Wow! I really wish men preachers would stop making excuses for lusting after women by saying that’s how they are genetically made. Give me a break!  You are basically giving an open door to all men to lust by saying God made you that way. Women can do the same – duh! It’s up to each person to behave themselves. Clearly, we have a choice. Here, Job, a man of God defines the way for us. Thank you Job!

11-  STOP LOOKING BACK!     Genesis 19:17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.

•  Phil 3:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
• Luke 9:62Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
• Hebrews 6:1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God
• 2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature ; the old things  have passed away. Behold, new things have come
• Hebrews 12:1-2  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud  OF witnesses , stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us,  focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith , who for the joy  set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God 

In Christ, you are NEW!  You’re not the old person, so why do you keep looking back? Forget what is behind, get rid of those old sins that drag you down and run the race set before you by keeping your eyes on Christ, the finisher of your faith. Keep your eyes on Christ. Have faith, also have good works in love for others at all times.

12- I could go on, but because I know that sometimes a long post is never read, I will stop here and list a few more verses to consider if you want. Bottom line is this – what you see before you and in your mind can lead you to hell or lead you along the way you should go – the narrow path, which is difficult and so few find it.  Get your act together. Amen.

 

• Hebrews 11:27It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.
• Hebrews 12:2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
• 2 Peter 2:14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.Matthew 5:28But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
• Numbers 24:15[ Balaam’s Final Messages ] This is the message Balaam delivered: “This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,Numbers 24:16the message of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:
• Numbers 25:6Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
• 1 Samuel 2:33The few not cut off from serving at my altar will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break, and their children will die a violent death.
• 1 Samuel 18:9So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
• Job 10:4Are your eyes like those of a human? Do you see things only as people see them?
• Job 28:21It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.
• Isaiah 33:15Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—

For all sakes of sakes, I used amplified, new king james, king james and new living translation scattered about.

Have you considered where you let your eyes wander? or where you allow your thoughts to go.  Are you in fantasy land? lotto land? what are you watching? what are you looking at? Where is your mind wandering?

Keep your eyes on Jesus, get your thoughts in line, keep far away from ALL evil. When you control your thoughts, God promises that His peace will be with you!

 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Phil 4 

What do I do?

1- Look forward to what lies ahead, just like Abraham and the prophets looked forward to the Messiah. We also look to Christ and what lies ahead.
2- Don’t fill your heart and mind with worthless and wicked ideas, movies, discussions, songs, thoughts, etc.
3- Stop looking back -once we were enemies of God, but now through Christ, we are friends.
4- Consider what your thinking and daydreaming about. Fix your thoughts
5-How many times have you looked only towards Christ today?
6- Ask God to show us any way in us that is not pleasing to Him
7- Ask myself – Are my are focuses so deep in darkness that I cant see?
7-  I know you’re better than everyone else on earth, but let’s stop judging others for their faults without considering our own.
8- Lust will lead you to hell, don’t let any fancy preacher tell you otherwise
9- Anything you do that you KNOW is wrong is a sin- Anything that you are looking at or thinking about that you know is wrong, it’s still a sin
10- What you put before you to look at can change you. It can change your destiny, your eternity, your today and your tomorrow – it can change you mentally, physically and emotionally