We’ve all heard that “You are what you eat,” and it’s obvious that our physical bodies are composed of the nutrients that we consume. But what is it that gives focus and direction to our bodies and minds? Jesus says it’s the things on which we fix our attention: “The eye is the lamp of the body.”

And that just stands to reason, doesn’t it? We don’t tend to keep looking at things that we find neither interesting nor desirable. But the graceful dancer or the fast sports car or the brilliant diamond or the talented athlete – all of these attract our eyes and thus reveal the desires of our hearts.

And so in today’s passage, Jesus challenges us to take a look at the things we look at. Are our eyes drawn to material wealth? If so, even our greatest efforts to attain it will eventually lead to disappointment, as moth and rust eat away at it, or when thieves steal it from us. Yes, if our eyes are set on any worldly things – money, pleasure, fame, power – our lives will eventually be filled with darkness: for the darkness of death will eventually and inevitably remove all of these things from us.

But what if our eyes are turned to the One Who is the Light of the World (John 8:12)? Then all that we are – body, soul, and mind – will be filled with light, the light of life. And that heavenly treasure, that eternal life that Jesus gives to all who trust in Him, will never be taken away from us, not even by death itself.

But we can’t have it both ways. As Jesus makes clear, it’s just not possible to serve two masters, especially those that are pulling us in opposite directions. No, every day we have to make a choice between the temporary and the eternal, between the things of this world and the things of the next, between the service of Christ and the service of self.

So, on what are your eyes fixed today? Where is your true treasure? And will it really last forever?

Matthew 6:19-24 (NASB)

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
23 “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 the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.