Day Five: THE QUIET CAPTIVES


“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. . . .”
—MATTHEW 6:22–23

Our eyes bring either light or darkness into the body. Jesus spoke these words to introduce the idea that we reside either in the darkness or in the light, depending on our vision. A woman with a vision of God lives in the light. A woman focused only on herself only lives in darkness. Jesus used eyes as a metaphor for our spiritual lives: eyes are an entry point that affects the whole being.

Jesus also taught, in Matthew 5:29, that what our eyes focus on can affect our spirit and lead us into sin. Our physical eyes can be described as spiritually neutral, but Jesus warns us they are incredibly powerful, for they are capable of affecting our inner life. Haven’t you experienced seeing an image that permeates your thinking and continually pops into your mind, unwanted? Do you find yourself wishing you had never seen it, but that now it is a part of you? Jesus uses our eyes to teach us that our souls and spirits are captive to our physical lives and habits.

We are spirits, and souls, living within bodies. What affects one affects all three. Only death can separate the three. (The traditional interpretation of spirit versus soul is that spirit refers to our immortal beings and the soul to our earthly intellect and emotions.)

Beauty is a physical manifestation of the spirit and soul, and the spirit and soul are held captive by our physical choices. Therefore, the greatest of care should be given to how we care for ourselves, and why. We understand beauty as a metaphor for God and honor it as such, but we also acknowledge that the act of creating physical beauty can have a spiritual impact as well.

Ask: God, show me where I am making unwise choices in my life.

Believe: Others see the outward radiance of my inner life.

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