The Single Eye by A. M. Lindsley

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 8, 1873

The Single Eye.

By A. M. Lindsley

“If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Matt. 6: 22.

PERHAPS there is not in the whole Bible a more comprehensive text than the above. Our object and aims, or purposes, for life in this world, and the next, are all centered in the first clause, “If thine eye be single.” The Saviour, in his sermon on the mount, was, in this connection, bringing out and enforcing our duty and service to God. Matt. 6: 22, and Luke 11: 34. It supposes, in the first place, the position of a humble, whole-hearted Christian; in the second, the result of his faithful efforts in that direction. “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.” Verse 36. This position necessarily includes all the various steps, from the very commencement of a knowledge of the way of life, which, as it dawns on the mind, begets faith. The judgment and understanding have been reached and convinced. At this point, choice is made, either to follow out these convictions in the service of God, or to let the light which is now in us become darkness. Then if our choice is to follow our own way, our eye is evil, therefore our whole body is full of darkness. When the decision, however, is made for God and Heaven, the willing soul may seek, with a full consciousness that it may be reached, a perfect conformity to the will of God, and realize the blessedness of his whole body being full of light. Duties will not then seem hard and irksome; he will not be wandering through mists and darkness, unbelief and indecision; but, with faith in God, and confidence in his providence, will stand, as it were, with his head above the clouds—his eye fixed on Jesus as his hope, his great exemplar. The time and strength of a thoroughly converted Christian will not be all taken up in allaying insurrectionary movements in his own heart, for these will be overcome in such measure that his whole body is full of light. Although he must always stand on the defensive against the wiles of our common foe, he may, and it is his duty to, wage a war of aggression upon the ranks of the enemy.

How, think you, an army on the field of battle would win a victory, if, when called upon to meet a foe, they must first stop to quell disorder and insubordination among themselves? and should their time be wholly taken up in this way, where would the conflict with the enemy be? or, at least, where would be the victory? God has given special directions for the drilling of, and bringing into order, the members of Christ’s body—the church. Explicit and full, line upon line, here a little and there a little, often repeated, so that a mistake or failure must result from indifference, or hardness of heart on our part, or a failure to understand the rules laid down.

Peter, addressing the church, says, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, . . . According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Here the Christian’s privilege is plain. He then gives a method of growth in grace which must be added to the former experience. He says, “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” If we do these things, we shall not fail of an entrance being ministered abundantly unto us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord.

The whole tenor of the Scriptures implies a thorough conversion, a whole sacrifice, a single eye, and as the result, we shall “walk in the light, as he is in the light; have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” John 1: 5, 6. Again, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us; God is love: and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” This is solid ground, and we may come up to it if we will. In this, God is for us; Jesus and the angels are enlisted for our salvation, a salvation that is full and free. We may lay hold; the veracity of God’s word stands out as proof that we may. His promises are arrayed on our side, and what shall hinder us? Paul says, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 8: 38, 39.

A. M. LINDSLEY.