So goes the song that is often taught to our small children but that adults would do well to relearn and remember.
Jesus said, “the lamp of the body is the eye” (Luke 11:34). This statement is first recorded in the Sermon on the Mount (cf Matt 6:22-23). In that specific context, Jesus warned against the inordinate desire for money and this world’s goods. We know this because in the three preceding verses Jesus admonished us to pursue everlasting heavenly treasures as opposed to earthly, temporal, and corruptible ones (cf Matt 6:19-21). Then He followed with the well-known statement, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (v 24).
When speaking of the things that defile a man, Jesus declared that such things originate in the heart, but how do they get there? Through the eyes! Achan “saw the spoils” and said, “I coveted them,” to the destruction of his house (Josh 7). Simon the sorcerer “saw” how the Holy Spirit was given through the apostles’ hands and coveted their power (Acts 8).
Such desires poison the mind and lead to the destruction of the soul. Paul put it this way: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lists which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim 6:9-10).
But our eyes can also lead to our downfall in other areas as well. For example, lust and sexual sins invariably enter in to our hearts through our eyes. The wise man of Proverbs repeatedly warned his son to keep away from immoral women, lest he destroy his own soul (Prov 6:32). He warned his son to be on guard, pondering the paths of his feet, lest a woman with the attire of a harlot meet him and destroy him with her craftiness (cf Prov 7:1-27). Peter spoke of those who have “eyes full of adultery and cannot cease from sin” (2 Pet 2:14).
Sin lies all around, waiting to trip us or ensnare us in its deadly traps. To avoid all such things, let us keep our eyes on the cross, “looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (cf Heb 12:1-2).