The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
The eye directs the whole life, and when its aim is single and sound the entire person is filled with light. A single eye is an undivided purpose fixed wholly on God's glory and on Christ, with nothing allowed to come between the soul and Him. It is the conscience and moral perception kept healthy and sanctified, so that it judges rightly between good and evil, truth and error, and obeys truth at any cost. Such singleness lays up treasure in heaven rather than on earth, refuses to serve God and mammon, and trusts the Father for food and clothing while seeking first His kingdom. Where the eye is divided and turned to self, the world and human wisdom, the whole body is full of darkness, and that darkness is great.
Verse Setting and Imagery
Matthew 6:22 belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the gathered multitude also heard it, as part of Christ's teaching against laying up treasures on earth. That teaching exposed the dangers and unbelief of the time and called all to walk by faith. The state of the heart regulates the life and character, and this is the greatest and most difficult lesson for new converts to learn, for teaching the claims of the law of God requires having the spirit of the law in the heart and impressing its far-reaching principles as Christ taught in His sermon on the mount, or the labor will be lost.
The eye is the light of the body, and when the eye is sound and single the whole body is full of light. The eye represents the direction of a person's life: when the eye is single, the whole person is filled with light. Having a single eye means acting with a single purpose directed to the glory of God, as in pursuing the building of the sanitarium with that undivided aim. The face reflects the thoughts and inner state, so that joy, peace, and happiness in the heart show in the countenance. Christ is the light of the world, and people are to walk in His light in all they do, using their talents and money as trusts from God rather than as they please, while impaired spiritual eyesight needs healing.
In its surrounding teaching this points to undivided devotion rather than serving competing masters, for no one can serve two masters, God and mammon. It is Christ's command to lay not up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal, but to lay up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal, for where treasure is the heart is also. That means practicing strict economy in spending so as to have something to bring to the Lord, offering back His own with thanksgiving for blessings received and laying up treasures beside His throne. The same counsel about food and clothing calls not to live for appetite or be ruled by anxious care, but to eat simply to satisfy hunger rather than to gratify taste.
Single Eye Defined
The single eye is an undivided aim, purpose and devotion fixed wholly on God's glory and on Christ, and when the eye is thus single the whole body and life are full of light. It is the inner focus that guides the life, fixed on what is true and heavenly, calling for undivided allegiance to God rather than service to both God and worldly wealth. In its contrast with an evil eye and the choice between God and mammon, undivided devotion brings spiritual light while divided or selfish devotion leaves the person in darkness. This focus is bound up with where treasure is laid up and whom one serves, warning against letting attachment to earthly treasure and concern for perishable riches govern life.
Keeping the aim fixed on God's glory gives a balanced mind and firm principles, shown in a life reflecting Christ's loveliness and purity. A single eye views things carefully and truly, judging fairly and generously with a mind in harmony with the Holy Spirit, while a diseased eye distorts vision and magnifies small faults into great offenses, making a mountain out of a molehill. It guards against distorted understanding and unsanctified judgment, against magnifying others' faults, misjudging their words and motives, and following suggestions that shut one away from the Spirit and hide danger and destination. Moral renovation with a pure heart and undefiled thoughts changes how things are seen and judged, so that one does not seek approval or become discouraged by treatment but seeks to please and obey God, doing entrusted duty and leaving results to Him.
The single eye lets nothing come between the person and Jesus Christ, with will and intellect subject to Him rather than divided between Him and the world. Keeping Christ continually in view makes the eye single to God's glory and fills the whole person with light, bringing His light, peace and trust, forming His image in the heart and showing it in practical obedience to His will. With attention fixed on Jesus and actions guided by heavenly influences, the whole life is filled with light, living in the world without sharing its evil and reflecting His light through active service, unturned by the world and its opinions from steady progress toward the prize of calling in Christ. Even when tempests and storms beat, looking to Christ the Author and Finisher of salvation keeps the course directed toward duty and safety and catches the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, advancing step by step in character instead of becoming discouraged by difficulties, though Satan tries to distract the mind from Christ.
The verse means consecrating the powers of body, mind and soul to God's service in singleness of purpose, with whole heart, soul, mind and strength given to His service. The believer belongs wholly to God as His instrument, surrendering to Him and trusting His sufficient grace and divine help, no longer living for self but giving every part of life to Christ. This calls for complete consecration rather than following inclination or pleasure, receiving truth's sanctifying and subduing influence on the soul, by which the converted person transformed by grace overcomes. Anything withheld from that service is counted on Satan's side and strengthens his cause rather than God's kingdom. That highest standard belongs to all, including physicians, nurses, superintendents, business managers and all connected with sanitariums as medical missionaries doing sacred work in union with a pure, holy God.
Clear Spiritual Discernment
The eye is the conscience, the moral and spiritual perception by which good and evil are judged, and its condition decides whether the whole person is full of light or full of darkness. When the eye is healthy, clear and sanctified it teaches the soul rightly, lets things be seen in their true relations, and distinguishes good from evil, truth from falsehood, selfishness from unselfishness, and righteousness from idolatry. When conscience is ruled by human perceptions not softened and subdued by grace, the mind is diseased and imagination distorts what is seen so that things appear falsely. Calling sin insignificant and confusing good with evil proves the inner light has become darkness, and that darkness is great. A misleading or hardened conscience sees matters in a distorted way and insists on mistaken judgments, and wrongdoing clouds judgment so that prayer is needed to see sin in its proper light and recognize its seriousness; when brought into harmony with God's will and the Bible it can be healed, bringing sounder judgment and improved health of the whole being. When the Word convicts the conscience and the Spirit exposes sin, that painful reproof heals spiritual sight, so a single eye sees self truthfully before God and directs life to His glory with undivided purpose.
A single, rightly directed eye discerns and obeys truth at any cost, with purity and steadfastness of purpose as the condition for receiving light. Whoever receives truth is guided by heaven's light through the whole course of life, and truth sanctifies and aligns life and character with itself. Refusing to seek truth and accepting error as truth leaves the soul in darkness and corrupts life and character, because error cannot sanctify or do good. Seeking truth requires willingness to accept all that it reveals and make no compromise with error or sin; wavering or half-hearted loyalty chooses the darkness of error and delusion, while real piety begins when compromise ends and the heart presses toward God's calling counting all else loss to gain Christ. A clear single focus on Christ and His teaching enables recognition of what matters most and action in harmony with it, producing desire to please Him and seek salvation, with clear perception of His Word and ability to recognize and obey its truth. Living with the eye single to God's glory means directing character and devotion wholly toward honoring Him, while an evil or divided eye leaves the person in darkness so bodily and worldly influences overcome the mind's higher powers and impair moral judgment, and indulging an unsanctified eye for display obscures the value of God's Word.
Understanding has light only when the eye is single and directed to God's glory. The Jewish priests and leaders searched prophecy not to honor God or live by its high standard but to support pride and contempt for other nations, so their understanding was darkened and they had no light in themselves. They read the prophecies as promising a forceful earthly kingdom and misread Christ's reign. Failure to walk in given light separates from God, and for the Jewish people darkness came upon them in the same proportion as light had been permitted to shine upon their pathway. Lack of simplicity of purpose is the great cause of spiritual weakness, coming from thinking something great can be done by finite men, from unwillingness to yield all talents to God for His use, and from loving the praise of the world and desiring honor and exaltation instead of lying at the feet of Jesus; as the Pharisees would not believe because they sought and gained worldly honor, a divided eye leads to unbelief, while those who keep the eye single will be used by Him and receive their reward.
Spiritual eyesight can be darkened and blinded when men follow their own human wisdom contrary to given light and make plans not inspired by God, and it needs healing into harmony with God's will and the Bible. Those responsible for God's work need heavenly eyesalve anointing their eyes as their only safety, so they can discern whether their plans follow God's guidance and see and do what He guides. This calls for earnest, frequent, sincere self-examination, testing motives behind actions and measuring character by God's infallible standard of Word and righteousness rather than letting prejudice, personal feelings, or self-sufficiency rule decisions. A clear, single vision comes through making Christ the pattern, leading to Christlike influence with deeds, words, and purposes devoted to preparation for eternal life. Having the eye single to God's glory as the governing purpose from the start of lifework requires examining every habit, practice, motive, and phase of character by that light, bursting from selfish indulgences and unmanly habits, standing in God-given manhood as masters of self and constantly ascending higher, scorning to be deceived because all will be brought into judgment, with daily transforming grace giving discernment for faithful work.
Treasure Loyalty and Trust
The single eye lays up treasure in heaven and not on earth, for where the treasure is placed the heart follows also. When treasure and heart are fixed heavenward with undivided purpose the whole body is full of light, but when professed light is fixed on earth and mammon and self are served the whole body is full of darkness, and that darkness is great. No one can serve two masters, God and mammon, and anxious thought about what to eat and drink and wear must be put away in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in trust that the heavenly Father who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies knows need and will supply it. The single eye therefore gives means entrusted by God into His treasury to sustain His cause and bring souls the knowledge of truth, which is the only saving bank that never fails, rather than laying up treasure on earth that passes away by moth and rust and thieves. Such singleness works for eternity and not only for time, content with food and raiment, and gains enduring substance in heaven that flood cannot wash away and fire cannot consume. Christ left His heavenly home, high command, kingly crown and royal robe and became poor that fallen man might obtain eternal riches, so to have a single eye is to become His co-worker through self-denial and self-sacrifice, denying every inclination of self in obedience to God's directions to win the royal crown and the life which measures with the life of God, while an evil eye keeps heart on earth, denies Christ before men and is denied before the Father in heaven.
Singleness governs stewardship of money and entrusted means, directing mind and heart heavenward instead of earthward by investing the Lord's money in His cause to bring sons and daughters to Him and gain the eternal reward. Earthly investments must not divert means from God's work or foster greed and divided loyalty, and investing in worldly enterprises and contriving how to use means for self-pleasure, selfishness, worldliness, pride, self-indulgence and display turns the mind earthward and destroys singleness. God's stewards are now to stop tying up money in banks and to put it into circulation in missionary fields without delay, taking personal responsibility to meet needs and advance the truth rather than leaving that duty to an organization. Christians are safe in getting money only when they follow God's direction and put His goods into channels He can bless, so He blesses them in order to bless others through them, using money and influence to elevate and ennoble people and not wasting them on tobacco and liquor. Grasping all that can be gotten of wages or goods by the world's maxim and discarding God's specifications, like the slothful servant who misappropriated entrusted means, is the opposite spirit of the evil eye that fills the whole body with darkness, while working as Christ worked, doing only good with entrusted talents and co-operating with the Redeemer, keeps the whole body full of light for spiritual and eternal good.
The single eye takes no anxious thought for life, food, drink and clothing but seeks first God's kingdom and righteousness in trust that the heavenly Father knows and will supply need. Worrying constantly about food, drink and clothing leaves God out of reckoning and conflicts with undivided attention to His glory, and letting anxiety and sadness over loved ones displace trust likewise breaks the clear, God-centered outlook that fills life with spiritual light, peace, joy and gratitude. Faith keeps the soul mindful of God's presence, making His existence and presence real, so that wholehearted focus on His glory reveals more of the beauty of His character and strengthens spiritual life and power. Those who so live breathe as it were heaven's atmosphere, remain steady because God is at the right hand, remember that He sees every word and action and that everything is open to Him, and trusting the Lord with all the heart and following Christ as the light of the world receive the light of life so as not to walk in darkness. God then instructs and teaches the way to go and makes the path plain, giving plain and clear knowledge of what to do and write, a promise that can be believed from youth and verified by experience by casting the helpless soul upon Christ who bought sinners with His own blood, holding true even in trial, pain and physical affliction.
Keeping the eyes fixed on the heavenly crown with single, undivided focus fills the person with light, dispels darkness, and transforms to resemble angels. Those who keep their eyes fixed on the heavenly reward are not stained or harmed by worldly ridicule and mockery, while turning attention to earthly attractions brings darkness and stain. When aim is single and directed toward heavenly treasure the whole life is filled with light, but reaching eagerly for earthly riches while only half-heartedly seeking heaven causes loss of sight of the heavenly and leaves in darkness, groping after what is wanted. Turning from the earthly crown to earnestly seek the heavenly brings change from gloom and darkness to light, cheerfulness and holy joy.
Transformed Character and Life
The single eye keeps the standard of the Word of God before the life instead of one's own ideas and standards, requiring pure and undefiled religion and the righteousness that belongs to the truly converted soul who takes the Redeemer's life as example. It is singleness of purpose and whole-hearted devotion to God, with the heart right with God and subjected to the influences of the Spirit of Christ, so that when the heart is right the whole life is purified, refined, ennobled and sanctified. What is needed is experimental knowledge of the Lord Jesus by the touch of living faith, not a casual touch, a faith that dethrones every idol placed in affection before the Lord and accepts by faith the merits of Jesus Christ. Becoming a partaker of His nature and through His grace overcoming requires lifting the cross and following after Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice, accepting all that truth reveals without compromise, with natural temperaments and desires daily brought under the converting power of the Holy Spirit into harmony with the life of Christ. Real piety begins when compromise with sin ends, and the heart then presses toward God's calling and counts everything else as loss in order to gain Christ, manifesting the love, mercy, benevolence and virtues of God with intensity of desire proportionate to the value of heaven. Religion is not a matter of externalities kept out of work, but a thing of the heart, and the transforming grace of Christ enters the minutest deeds of life in every department of work, devoting all hours in all places to the one aim of saving souls for whom Christ died, laying hold with heart affection not on things seen but on things unseen and eternal, in purity, holiness, devotion and character that honors God, cleansed from selfishness with Jesus reigning in the body to shape character and influence others for good.
Having a single eye means taking special care to keep every organ of the body pure and healthy by observing temperance in all things and by exercising the physical and mental powers in accordance with an enlightened conscience, and when this is done the whole body is full of light. Tobacco and intoxicating drink cloud the mind and weaken moral and physical power, enslaving to appetite and opposing clear, undivided discernment directed toward God's glory and truth, while indulgence in appetite and passion weakens the mind and dulls moral perception and hinders service to God. The purpose must stay clear: preserve physical and mental strength with self-control, method and order, sleeping seasonably and living in harmony with the laws of being, for the work God appoints, especially helping souls find the path of righteousness, rather than abusing powers for selfish gratification or exhausting and wasting them to gain every kind of knowledge. Intemperance in study is an intoxication that makes men wander from safe paths and stumble and fall in darkness, while the single eye keeps a worker doing what reflects glory to God by being a benefit to fellow men, with wise use of money and abilities in service to God and to people in need.
Faith fixed steadily on God pierces the gloom even when depression or dark circumstances cloud experience, keeping Christ's grace and the sacrifice He made before the mind with the beams of His righteousness falling on believers through faith in that sacrifice. This steady focus fills the life with light by sustaining trust in God's unchanging character and promises rather than relying on changing feelings or treating hardship as proof that God has changed, forsaken or withdrawn favor. Keeping the eye single to the glory of God means serving God as Father in disappointments as well as in prosperity instead of laying off from duty when not treated as deserved, refusing to stumble over small trials and tell them to others, but looking up for encouragement and strength instead of looking down. It calls for trusting God rather than one's own efforts, walking by faith and not by sight, making the most of capabilities and refusing discouragement, and those who keep the eye single in this way receive spirit and life, increase in knowledge, succeed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and triumph at last even through suffering in doing God's will, with Christ's hand brushing away the cloud between Him and believers, keeping away days of darkness and gloom and guiding through responsibilities and difficulties with courage, peace, consolation and joy on a brightening path.
The single eye means freedom from egotism and from determination to be first and to stand over others, for if the eye is single the whole body is full of light, but if the eye is evil the whole body is full of darkness. An evil eye cherishes selfish ambition, jealousy and desire for supremacy as if it were light, but that cherished light is really darkness, and when the light within is darkness the darkness is great, requiring humbling of self under God instead of pride and self-exaltation. Singleness rebukes the spirit of strife for place and position and reaching out for riches, honor and recognition, teaching ambition to honor Christ at every step by yielding the will to the control of the Holy Spirit and working contentedly in just the place God has assigned where He can look with approval, rather than pushing a fellow worker aside to advance personal plans. The whole person, including inclinations and desires, must be under the Spirit's control, which makes service to God and the walk toward heaven easier, whereas serving God and mammon with a divided heart brings unrest and instability. This calls for humility like that of a little child in childlike simplicity, without which self-interest leaves a person open to deception, putting away hasty temper, cruel speech, unkind thought, exalting one and condemning another, and forgiving and conceding rights to preserve unity in meekness.
Life so directed becomes full of light and shines as a light in the world quietly without noise or friction, without being forward and obtrusive, with purpose fixed in an eye single to the glory of God. Giving and acting with that single aim, in sympathy and benevolence done faithfully without turning aside, retaliating or being ruled by impulse, blesses the giver, and every ray of light shared with others is reflected back in the giver's own heart to represent Jesus. Those who work with an eye single to the glory of God have lives that reflect the light of heaven, receive increased light and carry it to others, so that contact with people who do not know the truth stirs them to share that light. God demands this full consecration, and none who give it need fail, for One wise in counsel and excellent in working is with them, working through human and divine agents seen and unseen to carry His grand work forward to His glory when all connected with it make their work correspond to their profession of faith, strengthening workers as they unite, witnessing to God and growing in grace with heaven's signature and supplied means.
Faithful Service in Callings
Ministers and workers whose eye is single serve wholly for God's glory rather than for self, with heart and life directed undividedly toward Him in earnest, pure and holy service free from earthly desire and moral pollution. Such singleness means declaring the whole truth under Christ's direction without being turned aside by criticism or praise, discerning truth from error, and keeping church services guided by that purpose rather than by criticism, personal attack or selfish motives. A minister lacking this vision lets personal feelings sway decisions that hinder the cause, and may even let a wife's preferences and lack of self-denial and devotion shape and injure the whole work.
Teachers and students keep the eye single by fixing attention on God's glory rather than on self or on meeting a human standard, looking to Jesus and copying His life and character. For the student this means learning to judge clearly, seeing with brain as well as eyes, educating mental powers so judgment is not feeble, praying for guidance, committing the way to God, closing the heart against folly and sin and opening it to heavenly influence, making the most of time and abilities to develop balanced, symmetrical character and grow daily in intelligence to save the soul. When teachers and students lack this clear sight they give and receive false education without proper discipline and elevated standard, while faithful work is required of both, and schools established with this purpose shine amid moral darkness.
Physicians and sanitarium workers with single eye are emptied of self and selfishness, hidden in Christ, touched with love for souls purchased by His blood and moved by the unselfish interest shown in His work for the perishing. They keep eternal realities in view in living connection with God, remembering life and character charged with sacred responsibility, treating the sick and guiding to truth and holiness while time is short and all works pass in review for reward. They do not make self the center, absorb everything and impart nothing, charge exorbitantly after worldly custom, or work as mere businessmen from a worldly point of view, but render honest Christian service taking only what is honestly due, putting God's glory before personal consequences, letting truth occupy the citadel of the soul and shedding unconsciously the blessing influence of the Sun of Righteousness. This aim is to guide the founding of sanitariums, while those without it bury themselves in unrelated cares, trust own wisdom, neglect contemplation and prayer, keep truth apart from life, and go blindfolded under a cloud of worldly darkness to disappointment and ruin.
In business singleness brings clear discernment and singleness of purpose toward God, choosing Christ before blind human judgment and submitting natural temperament, self-confidence, prejudice and feeling to His requirements and counsel as infallible Guide and True Counselor out of perplexity. It fixes purpose on duty and God's glory rather than present appearances, so that following His leading the path brightens. Those whose eye is not single benumb sensibility, divert means from missions to ambitious designs, mingle human with divine wisdom, confuse minds about holy methods, and unjustly acquire means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power, failing to love God wholly and neighbor as required and failing the Mount's standard until repentance and cleansing. It excludes feverish haste to be rich, selfish gain, cunning, false pretense and secret advantage, taking up each duty for God's glory not self-glory or display of superior wisdom, in living sympathy and communion with God, so the mind becomes like Christ's, blessing others and revealing Him in brethren.
Missionaries with single eye keep minds free from distractions, put God's cause first, and remain ready to go wherever sent and serve in whatever capacity to spread truth. Their work is for God's glory not own praise or honor, filled with Christ's love, devotion, zeal and perseverance. They are unselfish workers keeping self and passions under control, giving themselves fully and unreservedly to build Christ's kingdom because the end is at hand, giving due care to churches with whole devotion like the apostles in Scripture search and prayer. Even considering needs of institutions such as the Pacific Press with self-denial and concern for the other shows this undivided focus.
All workers show singleness by whole-hearted faithfulness in small duties as well as great, for faithfulness in the small reveals undivided purpose and neglect proves unfitness for greater trust. Guided by the Spirit they keep to principle, seek to be right in God's sight rather than gain fame, high wages or recognition, and do every task well whatever its size without slipshod effort, display or self-seeking. Fixing attention on Jesus is the only safety, serving God alone with living spiritual principle rather than depending on others' experience or obeying self, using influence for good even amid danger from prosperity and honor. Where self does not enter service every step is walked understandingly, truth presented in its bearings, and light from the Word received through diligent investigation and earnest prayer, with nothing new introduced unless proved.
Family and Daily Duties
Having the eye single directs habits, homes and family life toward God's glory in order, temperance and instruction, and orderly homes make time to teach and develop children. As teachers standing in God's place, parents are not to scold, fret, be harsh, or punish in anger, but to act God's mind and will in every particular and rear children in strict temperance, as in the charge to Manoah's wife to drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing before her son's birth. Mothers are to put training their children first with prayer and watchfulness, trusting added strength for further work undertaken with the same undivided aim, and busy domestic duties excuse no neglect of the Word. They are to teach useful skills including cookery with aim fixed on God's glory and the children's present and future good, and in so training they cooperate with God for their children's salvation. That undivided aim also governs conscientious decisions about bringing children into the world.
In courtship and marriage the eye is single only when spirit and motives are examined and criticized so as to act in all things for God's glory with the will in subjection to God's will. It requires deliberate caution and clear judgment rather than letting romantic feeling obscure God's claims, speaking no word and doing no deed that holy angels could not look upon and register, and cherishing only pure sanctified affection, heavenly rather than earthly in nature, for anything lower debases courtship and marriage cannot be holy and honorable before a pure and holy God except on this exalted scriptural principle. Urgency against parents' wishes, a strong persistent will that will not submit to objections or reason, and a mind engrossed and bewildered by desire to marry prove the eye is not single. Possessions, wife or children must never turn one from obeying God or withholding from Him what is His, and this devotion is joined with tender treatment of family and a course shaped for God's glory, keeping prayer and duties unsacrificed. Wholehearted loyalty that refuses division through desire to please friends and relatives does not weaken love for husband or wife but draws spouses closer, strengthens faith, brings harmony, and carries holy influence.
Daily duty is done with the eye fixed on duty and God's glory rather than on present appearances, hardship, feelings or sympathies, and as God's leading is followed the path brightens and He opens the way. A worker whose attention is drawn from saving souls by supposedly urgent household concerns has lost that singleness and may leave the work unfinished. That aim is to govern time, talents, and letters as well as spoken testimony, so every word elevates and leads heavenward rather than indulging empty amusement, frivolity and idleness. Young converts are to be trained to labor with this singleness, leaving indolence and ease for earnest zealous effort to encourage and educate others, strengthen the church, build up rather than tear down, and advance light, becoming living members of a living church with Jesus in their midst as a tower of strength, growing in grace and knowledge of truth unto the Master's Well done. Those with this singleness earnestly desire fitness for special service and usefulness in this life and through eternity, fortified against temptation with Christ's love controlling them and imparting more than finite energy for divine achievement, working hard with industry, economy and counsel, filling time in God's plan, driving out fear and unbelief, and carrying Bible religion into home and worldly work with patience amid strain.
Joseph honored God's will in every circumstance from prison to the place next to the throne, showing true religion shaping all conduct and a heart fixed on heavenly things discerning and escaping snares. Daniel and his companions in Babylon kept the eye of the mind single by seeking wisdom, strength and grace from on high, knowing no human power could be wisdom, righteousness and sanctification to them. Refusing to yield to smiles or frowns, flattery, deception, jealousy, plots, unknown obstacles, evil companions and Satan's sophistry, holding to God's strength for peace with watchfulness unto prayer and the armor of light in wisdom, firmness and heroism, they maintained holiness and became channels of light. Nehemiah's steady refusal to depart from principle exemplifies the same undivided devotion, and Christ did all things with undivided aim to glorify His Father, manifesting God's perfection through obedience, which having Christ in the heart by complete union with Him as propitiation, substitute and surety reproduces.
Warnings of Divided Vision
An evil or divided eye leaves the whole body full of darkness, while a single, rightly directed eye fills the whole person with light because attention and the way of seeing shape the entire experience. The eye must be sanctified to see as God sees, kept from resting on evil and fixed on God and eternal interests rather than on what is merely visible, guarding what mind and senses take in so life is brought into conformity with God's will. Dwelling on evil or objectionable things darkens and perverts the whole person, and when trust wavers or any part of self is held back from God spiritual vision is obscured and the person is left in darkness. That darkness removes the barrier against sin and opens the way to temptation, and doubt and fault-finding make a person a channel of darkness rather than light, for words that strengthen unbelief turn others from truth and weaken the speaker's own faith and openness to the Spirit. A life directed wholly toward God's glory bears righteous fruit, but selfish motives pervert God-given blessings and show the Spirit is not controlling and sanctifying, and when those in the church and its institutions serve selfish purposes they lack single-minded devotion and become full of darkness. When God's Word is not put first and God-given gifts are not used for His service, the person is full of darkness, enslaved to unhealthy appetite, wasting resources and failing to send light to those in need, whereas a life directed wholly toward God overcomes harmful habits and uses its gifts to help others and win souls; and walking without wholehearted purpose is unacceptable, with bodily and worldly influences overcoming higher powers.
A single eye is a mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit to discern divine agency and cooperate with heaven, with faith taking hold on God alone so the whole life is full of light and able to do good. An evil eye is a mind diverted from the divine to the human, trusting in man and human inventions, making flesh its arm and conforming to a human standard, and whatever turns the mind from God to man in this way darkens inner light, hinders cooperation with God in personal salvation, and makes it impossible to be a light to the world. This includes joining secret societies and alliance with the ungodly, leaning on human wisdom instead of God, and letting another's judgment control, for the eye represents the mind's spiritual focus that when single and fixed on God enlightens the whole person and when turned toward human inventions and trust in people leaves darkened. Therefore motives must be examined in the light of eternity with purpose fixed on God's glory rather than self, and self-wisdom and self-reliance must not replace dependence on God but be set aside to look to the Lord for wisdom. Those who make God their trust and dependence rather than leaning on human wisdom can serve faithfully and gain wisdom through doing His work, and those who seek His guidance and do not pursue ambition for themselves have heavenly wisdom.
Being absorbed in selfish interests shows lack of undivided purpose, for the single eye means being wholly directed toward God's glory and doing work for that glory. When God's people seek their own glory instead of devotion to Him they lack singleness of purpose and are in a backslidden state, and a Christian who lives to gratify self and please the world, including through outward adornment, does not have this undivided aim centered on Jesus and His character. When self-seeking governs, inward life and work lack spiritual virtue, for genuine religious service requires an eye fixed singly on God's glory. Those in authority whose eyes are not single to God's glory and who fail to distinguish between those who serve God and those who do not are full of spiritual darkness. Putting personal advantage, convenience, praise, supremacy, and engrossing amusements such as ball games ahead of God's work reveals a double-minded state that supersedes His revealed will and leaves service fruitless.
Keeping purpose fixed on duty and God's glory rather than present appearances, feelings, sympathies, impulses, human likes or influence keeps the path bright and places one in the channel of light, with self put aside and Jesus lifted up, steady in sickness or health and abundance or want, following providence with gratitude and obeying requirements. The mind is strengthened and enlightened when directed away from common matters and fixed on eternal things, especially the Scriptures and the knowledge of God, and earnest study of truth including salvation expands the mind. Singleness requires keeping the soul free from defilement, thinking soberly, watching unto prayer continually, keeping the heart pure and bringing thoughts into obedience to God's will, with fidelity and living faith clinging to Jesus so that heavenly protection surrounds against destructive arts, while separating from Christ by sin and continued disregard of requirements removes that protection and leaves in great peril. Those who live for themselves lack this single purpose and cannot enter God's kingdom, whereas an eye fixed wholly on God's glory directs the whole life toward heavenly treasure and faithful service, and giving with sincere undivided aim for God's glory does not lose its reward even if the offering is misused, for God takes account of willingness or reluctance and motive. When there is singleness of heart in worshiping God and making devotion to Christ the object of life through renewing and reforming by the Spirit, with humble confession and the fallow ground of the heart broken up, discernment comes and eyes are opened to wondrous things out of God's law, responsibility makes men co-laborers with God to deliver others from spiritual death, the windows of the soul opened heavenward behold Christ as the Lamb of God, divine rays fill every corner, and light then flashes out to the world with Christ seen as altogether lovely and the center of attraction and words spoken in season with needed warnings in church and home.
Further points
The single eye directs the whole mind and life toward God's glory. Those given greater responsibility have still greater need to keep that purpose constantly before them. Every mental faculty is to be consecrated to God and used for His glory in meekness, humility and trust, rather than in self-esteem, pride, jealousy, ambition or worldly care.
The eye directs the whole life, and when its aim is single and sound the entire person is filled with light. A single eye is an undivided purpose fixed wholly on God's glory and on Christ, with nothing allowed to come between the soul and Him. It is the conscience and moral perception kept healthy and sanctified, so that it judges rightly between good and evil, truth and error, and obeys truth at any cost. Such singleness lays up treasure in heaven rather than on earth, refuses to serve God and mammon, and trusts the Father for food and clothing while seeking first His kingdom. Where the eye is divided and turned to self, the world and human wisdom, the whole body is full of darkness, and that darkness is great.
Verse Setting and Imagery
Matthew 6:22 belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the gathered multitude also heard it, as part of Christ's teaching against laying up treasures on earth. That teaching exposed the dangers and unbelief of the time and called all to walk by faith. The state of the heart regulates the life and character, and this is the greatest and most difficult lesson for new converts to learn, for teaching the claims of the law of God requires having the spirit of the law in the heart and impressing its far-reaching principles as Christ taught in His sermon on the mount, or the labor will be lost.
The eye is the light of the body, and when the eye is sound and single the whole body is full of light. The eye represents the direction of a person's life: when the eye is single, the whole person is filled with light. Having a single eye means acting with a single purpose directed to the glory of God, as in pursuing the building of the sanitarium with that undivided aim. The face reflects the thoughts and inner state, so that joy, peace, and happiness in the heart show in the countenance. Christ is the light of the world, and people are to walk in His light in all they do, using their talents and money as trusts from God rather than as they please, while impaired spiritual eyesight needs healing.
In its surrounding teaching this points to undivided devotion rather than serving competing masters, for no one can serve two masters, God and mammon. It is Christ's command to lay not up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal, but to lay up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal, for where treasure is the heart is also. That means practicing strict economy in spending so as to have something to bring to the Lord, offering back His own with thanksgiving for blessings received and laying up treasures beside His throne. The same counsel about food and clothing calls not to live for appetite or be ruled by anxious care, but to eat simply to satisfy hunger rather than to gratify taste.
Single Eye Defined
The single eye is an undivided aim, purpose and devotion fixed wholly on God's glory and on Christ, and when the eye is thus single the whole body and life are full of light. It is the inner focus that guides the life, fixed on what is true and heavenly, calling for undivided allegiance to God rather than service to both God and worldly wealth. In its contrast with an evil eye and the choice between God and mammon, undivided devotion brings spiritual light while divided or selfish devotion leaves the person in darkness. This focus is bound up with where treasure is laid up and whom one serves, warning against letting attachment to earthly treasure and concern for perishable riches govern life.
Keeping the aim fixed on God's glory gives a balanced mind and firm principles, shown in a life reflecting Christ's loveliness and purity. A single eye views things carefully and truly, judging fairly and generously with a mind in harmony with the Holy Spirit, while a diseased eye distorts vision and magnifies small faults into great offenses, making a mountain out of a molehill. It guards against distorted understanding and unsanctified judgment, against magnifying others' faults, misjudging their words and motives, and following suggestions that shut one away from the Spirit and hide danger and destination. Moral renovation with a pure heart and undefiled thoughts changes how things are seen and judged, so that one does not seek approval or become discouraged by treatment but seeks to please and obey God, doing entrusted duty and leaving results to Him.
The single eye lets nothing come between the person and Jesus Christ, with will and intellect subject to Him rather than divided between Him and the world. Keeping Christ continually in view makes the eye single to God's glory and fills the whole person with light, bringing His light, peace and trust, forming His image in the heart and showing it in practical obedience to His will. With attention fixed on Jesus and actions guided by heavenly influences, the whole life is filled with light, living in the world without sharing its evil and reflecting His light through active service, unturned by the world and its opinions from steady progress toward the prize of calling in Christ. Even when tempests and storms beat, looking to Christ the Author and Finisher of salvation keeps the course directed toward duty and safety and catches the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, advancing step by step in character instead of becoming discouraged by difficulties, though Satan tries to distract the mind from Christ.
The verse means consecrating the powers of body, mind and soul to God's service in singleness of purpose, with whole heart, soul, mind and strength given to His service. The believer belongs wholly to God as His instrument, surrendering to Him and trusting His sufficient grace and divine help, no longer living for self but giving every part of life to Christ. This calls for complete consecration rather than following inclination or pleasure, receiving truth's sanctifying and subduing influence on the soul, by which the converted person transformed by grace overcomes. Anything withheld from that service is counted on Satan's side and strengthens his cause rather than God's kingdom. That highest standard belongs to all, including physicians, nurses, superintendents, business managers and all connected with sanitariums as medical missionaries doing sacred work in union with a pure, holy God.
Clear Spiritual Discernment
The eye is the conscience, the moral and spiritual perception by which good and evil are judged, and its condition decides whether the whole person is full of light or full of darkness. When the eye is healthy, clear and sanctified it teaches the soul rightly, lets things be seen in their true relations, and distinguishes good from evil, truth from falsehood, selfishness from unselfishness, and righteousness from idolatry. When conscience is ruled by human perceptions not softened and subdued by grace, the mind is diseased and imagination distorts what is seen so that things appear falsely. Calling sin insignificant and confusing good with evil proves the inner light has become darkness, and that darkness is great. A misleading or hardened conscience sees matters in a distorted way and insists on mistaken judgments, and wrongdoing clouds judgment so that prayer is needed to see sin in its proper light and recognize its seriousness; when brought into harmony with God's will and the Bible it can be healed, bringing sounder judgment and improved health of the whole being. When the Word convicts the conscience and the Spirit exposes sin, that painful reproof heals spiritual sight, so a single eye sees self truthfully before God and directs life to His glory with undivided purpose.
A single, rightly directed eye discerns and obeys truth at any cost, with purity and steadfastness of purpose as the condition for receiving light. Whoever receives truth is guided by heaven's light through the whole course of life, and truth sanctifies and aligns life and character with itself. Refusing to seek truth and accepting error as truth leaves the soul in darkness and corrupts life and character, because error cannot sanctify or do good. Seeking truth requires willingness to accept all that it reveals and make no compromise with error or sin; wavering or half-hearted loyalty chooses the darkness of error and delusion, while real piety begins when compromise ends and the heart presses toward God's calling counting all else loss to gain Christ. A clear single focus on Christ and His teaching enables recognition of what matters most and action in harmony with it, producing desire to please Him and seek salvation, with clear perception of His Word and ability to recognize and obey its truth. Living with the eye single to God's glory means directing character and devotion wholly toward honoring Him, while an evil or divided eye leaves the person in darkness so bodily and worldly influences overcome the mind's higher powers and impair moral judgment, and indulging an unsanctified eye for display obscures the value of God's Word.
Understanding has light only when the eye is single and directed to God's glory. The Jewish priests and leaders searched prophecy not to honor God or live by its high standard but to support pride and contempt for other nations, so their understanding was darkened and they had no light in themselves. They read the prophecies as promising a forceful earthly kingdom and misread Christ's reign. Failure to walk in given light separates from God, and for the Jewish people darkness came upon them in the same proportion as light had been permitted to shine upon their pathway. Lack of simplicity of purpose is the great cause of spiritual weakness, coming from thinking something great can be done by finite men, from unwillingness to yield all talents to God for His use, and from loving the praise of the world and desiring honor and exaltation instead of lying at the feet of Jesus; as the Pharisees would not believe because they sought and gained worldly honor, a divided eye leads to unbelief, while those who keep the eye single will be used by Him and receive their reward.
Spiritual eyesight can be darkened and blinded when men follow their own human wisdom contrary to given light and make plans not inspired by God, and it needs healing into harmony with God's will and the Bible. Those responsible for God's work need heavenly eyesalve anointing their eyes as their only safety, so they can discern whether their plans follow God's guidance and see and do what He guides. This calls for earnest, frequent, sincere self-examination, testing motives behind actions and measuring character by God's infallible standard of Word and righteousness rather than letting prejudice, personal feelings, or self-sufficiency rule decisions. A clear, single vision comes through making Christ the pattern, leading to Christlike influence with deeds, words, and purposes devoted to preparation for eternal life. Having the eye single to God's glory as the governing purpose from the start of lifework requires examining every habit, practice, motive, and phase of character by that light, bursting from selfish indulgences and unmanly habits, standing in God-given manhood as masters of self and constantly ascending higher, scorning to be deceived because all will be brought into judgment, with daily transforming grace giving discernment for faithful work.
Treasure Loyalty and Trust
The single eye lays up treasure in heaven and not on earth, for where the treasure is placed the heart follows also. When treasure and heart are fixed heavenward with undivided purpose the whole body is full of light, but when professed light is fixed on earth and mammon and self are served the whole body is full of darkness, and that darkness is great. No one can serve two masters, God and mammon, and anxious thought about what to eat and drink and wear must be put away in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in trust that the heavenly Father who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies knows need and will supply it. The single eye therefore gives means entrusted by God into His treasury to sustain His cause and bring souls the knowledge of truth, which is the only saving bank that never fails, rather than laying up treasure on earth that passes away by moth and rust and thieves. Such singleness works for eternity and not only for time, content with food and raiment, and gains enduring substance in heaven that flood cannot wash away and fire cannot consume. Christ left His heavenly home, high command, kingly crown and royal robe and became poor that fallen man might obtain eternal riches, so to have a single eye is to become His co-worker through self-denial and self-sacrifice, denying every inclination of self in obedience to God's directions to win the royal crown and the life which measures with the life of God, while an evil eye keeps heart on earth, denies Christ before men and is denied before the Father in heaven.
Singleness governs stewardship of money and entrusted means, directing mind and heart heavenward instead of earthward by investing the Lord's money in His cause to bring sons and daughters to Him and gain the eternal reward. Earthly investments must not divert means from God's work or foster greed and divided loyalty, and investing in worldly enterprises and contriving how to use means for self-pleasure, selfishness, worldliness, pride, self-indulgence and display turns the mind earthward and destroys singleness. God's stewards are now to stop tying up money in banks and to put it into circulation in missionary fields without delay, taking personal responsibility to meet needs and advance the truth rather than leaving that duty to an organization. Christians are safe in getting money only when they follow God's direction and put His goods into channels He can bless, so He blesses them in order to bless others through them, using money and influence to elevate and ennoble people and not wasting them on tobacco and liquor. Grasping all that can be gotten of wages or goods by the world's maxim and discarding God's specifications, like the slothful servant who misappropriated entrusted means, is the opposite spirit of the evil eye that fills the whole body with darkness, while working as Christ worked, doing only good with entrusted talents and co-operating with the Redeemer, keeps the whole body full of light for spiritual and eternal good.
The single eye takes no anxious thought for life, food, drink and clothing but seeks first God's kingdom and righteousness in trust that the heavenly Father knows and will supply need. Worrying constantly about food, drink and clothing leaves God out of reckoning and conflicts with undivided attention to His glory, and letting anxiety and sadness over loved ones displace trust likewise breaks the clear, God-centered outlook that fills life with spiritual light, peace, joy and gratitude. Faith keeps the soul mindful of God's presence, making His existence and presence real, so that wholehearted focus on His glory reveals more of the beauty of His character and strengthens spiritual life and power. Those who so live breathe as it were heaven's atmosphere, remain steady because God is at the right hand, remember that He sees every word and action and that everything is open to Him, and trusting the Lord with all the heart and following Christ as the light of the world receive the light of life so as not to walk in darkness. God then instructs and teaches the way to go and makes the path plain, giving plain and clear knowledge of what to do and write, a promise that can be believed from youth and verified by experience by casting the helpless soul upon Christ who bought sinners with His own blood, holding true even in trial, pain and physical affliction.
Keeping the eyes fixed on the heavenly crown with single, undivided focus fills the person with light, dispels darkness, and transforms to resemble angels. Those who keep their eyes fixed on the heavenly reward are not stained or harmed by worldly ridicule and mockery, while turning attention to earthly attractions brings darkness and stain. When aim is single and directed toward heavenly treasure the whole life is filled with light, but reaching eagerly for earthly riches while only half-heartedly seeking heaven causes loss of sight of the heavenly and leaves in darkness, groping after what is wanted. Turning from the earthly crown to earnestly seek the heavenly brings change from gloom and darkness to light, cheerfulness and holy joy.
Transformed Character and Life
The single eye keeps the standard of the Word of God before the life instead of one's own ideas and standards, requiring pure and undefiled religion and the righteousness that belongs to the truly converted soul who takes the Redeemer's life as example. It is singleness of purpose and whole-hearted devotion to God, with the heart right with God and subjected to the influences of the Spirit of Christ, so that when the heart is right the whole life is purified, refined, ennobled and sanctified. What is needed is experimental knowledge of the Lord Jesus by the touch of living faith, not a casual touch, a faith that dethrones every idol placed in affection before the Lord and accepts by faith the merits of Jesus Christ. Becoming a partaker of His nature and through His grace overcoming requires lifting the cross and following after Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice, accepting all that truth reveals without compromise, with natural temperaments and desires daily brought under the converting power of the Holy Spirit into harmony with the life of Christ. Real piety begins when compromise with sin ends, and the heart then presses toward God's calling and counts everything else as loss in order to gain Christ, manifesting the love, mercy, benevolence and virtues of God with intensity of desire proportionate to the value of heaven. Religion is not a matter of externalities kept out of work, but a thing of the heart, and the transforming grace of Christ enters the minutest deeds of life in every department of work, devoting all hours in all places to the one aim of saving souls for whom Christ died, laying hold with heart affection not on things seen but on things unseen and eternal, in purity, holiness, devotion and character that honors God, cleansed from selfishness with Jesus reigning in the body to shape character and influence others for good.
Having a single eye means taking special care to keep every organ of the body pure and healthy by observing temperance in all things and by exercising the physical and mental powers in accordance with an enlightened conscience, and when this is done the whole body is full of light. Tobacco and intoxicating drink cloud the mind and weaken moral and physical power, enslaving to appetite and opposing clear, undivided discernment directed toward God's glory and truth, while indulgence in appetite and passion weakens the mind and dulls moral perception and hinders service to God. The purpose must stay clear: preserve physical and mental strength with self-control, method and order, sleeping seasonably and living in harmony with the laws of being, for the work God appoints, especially helping souls find the path of righteousness, rather than abusing powers for selfish gratification or exhausting and wasting them to gain every kind of knowledge. Intemperance in study is an intoxication that makes men wander from safe paths and stumble and fall in darkness, while the single eye keeps a worker doing what reflects glory to God by being a benefit to fellow men, with wise use of money and abilities in service to God and to people in need.
Faith fixed steadily on God pierces the gloom even when depression or dark circumstances cloud experience, keeping Christ's grace and the sacrifice He made before the mind with the beams of His righteousness falling on believers through faith in that sacrifice. This steady focus fills the life with light by sustaining trust in God's unchanging character and promises rather than relying on changing feelings or treating hardship as proof that God has changed, forsaken or withdrawn favor. Keeping the eye single to the glory of God means serving God as Father in disappointments as well as in prosperity instead of laying off from duty when not treated as deserved, refusing to stumble over small trials and tell them to others, but looking up for encouragement and strength instead of looking down. It calls for trusting God rather than one's own efforts, walking by faith and not by sight, making the most of capabilities and refusing discouragement, and those who keep the eye single in this way receive spirit and life, increase in knowledge, succeed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and triumph at last even through suffering in doing God's will, with Christ's hand brushing away the cloud between Him and believers, keeping away days of darkness and gloom and guiding through responsibilities and difficulties with courage, peace, consolation and joy on a brightening path.
The single eye means freedom from egotism and from determination to be first and to stand over others, for if the eye is single the whole body is full of light, but if the eye is evil the whole body is full of darkness. An evil eye cherishes selfish ambition, jealousy and desire for supremacy as if it were light, but that cherished light is really darkness, and when the light within is darkness the darkness is great, requiring humbling of self under God instead of pride and self-exaltation. Singleness rebukes the spirit of strife for place and position and reaching out for riches, honor and recognition, teaching ambition to honor Christ at every step by yielding the will to the control of the Holy Spirit and working contentedly in just the place God has assigned where He can look with approval, rather than pushing a fellow worker aside to advance personal plans. The whole person, including inclinations and desires, must be under the Spirit's control, which makes service to God and the walk toward heaven easier, whereas serving God and mammon with a divided heart brings unrest and instability. This calls for humility like that of a little child in childlike simplicity, without which self-interest leaves a person open to deception, putting away hasty temper, cruel speech, unkind thought, exalting one and condemning another, and forgiving and conceding rights to preserve unity in meekness.
Life so directed becomes full of light and shines as a light in the world quietly without noise or friction, without being forward and obtrusive, with purpose fixed in an eye single to the glory of God. Giving and acting with that single aim, in sympathy and benevolence done faithfully without turning aside, retaliating or being ruled by impulse, blesses the giver, and every ray of light shared with others is reflected back in the giver's own heart to represent Jesus. Those who work with an eye single to the glory of God have lives that reflect the light of heaven, receive increased light and carry it to others, so that contact with people who do not know the truth stirs them to share that light. God demands this full consecration, and none who give it need fail, for One wise in counsel and excellent in working is with them, working through human and divine agents seen and unseen to carry His grand work forward to His glory when all connected with it make their work correspond to their profession of faith, strengthening workers as they unite, witnessing to God and growing in grace with heaven's signature and supplied means.
Faithful Service in Callings
Ministers and workers whose eye is single serve wholly for God's glory rather than for self, with heart and life directed undividedly toward Him in earnest, pure and holy service free from earthly desire and moral pollution. Such singleness means declaring the whole truth under Christ's direction without being turned aside by criticism or praise, discerning truth from error, and keeping church services guided by that purpose rather than by criticism, personal attack or selfish motives. A minister lacking this vision lets personal feelings sway decisions that hinder the cause, and may even let a wife's preferences and lack of self-denial and devotion shape and injure the whole work.
Teachers and students keep the eye single by fixing attention on God's glory rather than on self or on meeting a human standard, looking to Jesus and copying His life and character. For the student this means learning to judge clearly, seeing with brain as well as eyes, educating mental powers so judgment is not feeble, praying for guidance, committing the way to God, closing the heart against folly and sin and opening it to heavenly influence, making the most of time and abilities to develop balanced, symmetrical character and grow daily in intelligence to save the soul. When teachers and students lack this clear sight they give and receive false education without proper discipline and elevated standard, while faithful work is required of both, and schools established with this purpose shine amid moral darkness.
Physicians and sanitarium workers with single eye are emptied of self and selfishness, hidden in Christ, touched with love for souls purchased by His blood and moved by the unselfish interest shown in His work for the perishing. They keep eternal realities in view in living connection with God, remembering life and character charged with sacred responsibility, treating the sick and guiding to truth and holiness while time is short and all works pass in review for reward. They do not make self the center, absorb everything and impart nothing, charge exorbitantly after worldly custom, or work as mere businessmen from a worldly point of view, but render honest Christian service taking only what is honestly due, putting God's glory before personal consequences, letting truth occupy the citadel of the soul and shedding unconsciously the blessing influence of the Sun of Righteousness. This aim is to guide the founding of sanitariums, while those without it bury themselves in unrelated cares, trust own wisdom, neglect contemplation and prayer, keep truth apart from life, and go blindfolded under a cloud of worldly darkness to disappointment and ruin.
In business singleness brings clear discernment and singleness of purpose toward God, choosing Christ before blind human judgment and submitting natural temperament, self-confidence, prejudice and feeling to His requirements and counsel as infallible Guide and True Counselor out of perplexity. It fixes purpose on duty and God's glory rather than present appearances, so that following His leading the path brightens. Those whose eye is not single benumb sensibility, divert means from missions to ambitious designs, mingle human with divine wisdom, confuse minds about holy methods, and unjustly acquire means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power, failing to love God wholly and neighbor as required and failing the Mount's standard until repentance and cleansing. It excludes feverish haste to be rich, selfish gain, cunning, false pretense and secret advantage, taking up each duty for God's glory not self-glory or display of superior wisdom, in living sympathy and communion with God, so the mind becomes like Christ's, blessing others and revealing Him in brethren.
Missionaries with single eye keep minds free from distractions, put God's cause first, and remain ready to go wherever sent and serve in whatever capacity to spread truth. Their work is for God's glory not own praise or honor, filled with Christ's love, devotion, zeal and perseverance. They are unselfish workers keeping self and passions under control, giving themselves fully and unreservedly to build Christ's kingdom because the end is at hand, giving due care to churches with whole devotion like the apostles in Scripture search and prayer. Even considering needs of institutions such as the Pacific Press with self-denial and concern for the other shows this undivided focus.
All workers show singleness by whole-hearted faithfulness in small duties as well as great, for faithfulness in the small reveals undivided purpose and neglect proves unfitness for greater trust. Guided by the Spirit they keep to principle, seek to be right in God's sight rather than gain fame, high wages or recognition, and do every task well whatever its size without slipshod effort, display or self-seeking. Fixing attention on Jesus is the only safety, serving God alone with living spiritual principle rather than depending on others' experience or obeying self, using influence for good even amid danger from prosperity and honor. Where self does not enter service every step is walked understandingly, truth presented in its bearings, and light from the Word received through diligent investigation and earnest prayer, with nothing new introduced unless proved.
Family and Daily Duties
Having the eye single directs habits, homes and family life toward God's glory in order, temperance and instruction, and orderly homes make time to teach and develop children. As teachers standing in God's place, parents are not to scold, fret, be harsh, or punish in anger, but to act God's mind and will in every particular and rear children in strict temperance, as in the charge to Manoah's wife to drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing before her son's birth. Mothers are to put training their children first with prayer and watchfulness, trusting added strength for further work undertaken with the same undivided aim, and busy domestic duties excuse no neglect of the Word. They are to teach useful skills including cookery with aim fixed on God's glory and the children's present and future good, and in so training they cooperate with God for their children's salvation. That undivided aim also governs conscientious decisions about bringing children into the world.
In courtship and marriage the eye is single only when spirit and motives are examined and criticized so as to act in all things for God's glory with the will in subjection to God's will. It requires deliberate caution and clear judgment rather than letting romantic feeling obscure God's claims, speaking no word and doing no deed that holy angels could not look upon and register, and cherishing only pure sanctified affection, heavenly rather than earthly in nature, for anything lower debases courtship and marriage cannot be holy and honorable before a pure and holy God except on this exalted scriptural principle. Urgency against parents' wishes, a strong persistent will that will not submit to objections or reason, and a mind engrossed and bewildered by desire to marry prove the eye is not single. Possessions, wife or children must never turn one from obeying God or withholding from Him what is His, and this devotion is joined with tender treatment of family and a course shaped for God's glory, keeping prayer and duties unsacrificed. Wholehearted loyalty that refuses division through desire to please friends and relatives does not weaken love for husband or wife but draws spouses closer, strengthens faith, brings harmony, and carries holy influence.
Daily duty is done with the eye fixed on duty and God's glory rather than on present appearances, hardship, feelings or sympathies, and as God's leading is followed the path brightens and He opens the way. A worker whose attention is drawn from saving souls by supposedly urgent household concerns has lost that singleness and may leave the work unfinished. That aim is to govern time, talents, and letters as well as spoken testimony, so every word elevates and leads heavenward rather than indulging empty amusement, frivolity and idleness. Young converts are to be trained to labor with this singleness, leaving indolence and ease for earnest zealous effort to encourage and educate others, strengthen the church, build up rather than tear down, and advance light, becoming living members of a living church with Jesus in their midst as a tower of strength, growing in grace and knowledge of truth unto the Master's Well done. Those with this singleness earnestly desire fitness for special service and usefulness in this life and through eternity, fortified against temptation with Christ's love controlling them and imparting more than finite energy for divine achievement, working hard with industry, economy and counsel, filling time in God's plan, driving out fear and unbelief, and carrying Bible religion into home and worldly work with patience amid strain.
Joseph honored God's will in every circumstance from prison to the place next to the throne, showing true religion shaping all conduct and a heart fixed on heavenly things discerning and escaping snares. Daniel and his companions in Babylon kept the eye of the mind single by seeking wisdom, strength and grace from on high, knowing no human power could be wisdom, righteousness and sanctification to them. Refusing to yield to smiles or frowns, flattery, deception, jealousy, plots, unknown obstacles, evil companions and Satan's sophistry, holding to God's strength for peace with watchfulness unto prayer and the armor of light in wisdom, firmness and heroism, they maintained holiness and became channels of light. Nehemiah's steady refusal to depart from principle exemplifies the same undivided devotion, and Christ did all things with undivided aim to glorify His Father, manifesting God's perfection through obedience, which having Christ in the heart by complete union with Him as propitiation, substitute and surety reproduces.
Warnings of Divided Vision
An evil or divided eye leaves the whole body full of darkness, while a single, rightly directed eye fills the whole person with light because attention and the way of seeing shape the entire experience. The eye must be sanctified to see as God sees, kept from resting on evil and fixed on God and eternal interests rather than on what is merely visible, guarding what mind and senses take in so life is brought into conformity with God's will. Dwelling on evil or objectionable things darkens and perverts the whole person, and when trust wavers or any part of self is held back from God spiritual vision is obscured and the person is left in darkness. That darkness removes the barrier against sin and opens the way to temptation, and doubt and fault-finding make a person a channel of darkness rather than light, for words that strengthen unbelief turn others from truth and weaken the speaker's own faith and openness to the Spirit. A life directed wholly toward God's glory bears righteous fruit, but selfish motives pervert God-given blessings and show the Spirit is not controlling and sanctifying, and when those in the church and its institutions serve selfish purposes they lack single-minded devotion and become full of darkness. When God's Word is not put first and God-given gifts are not used for His service, the person is full of darkness, enslaved to unhealthy appetite, wasting resources and failing to send light to those in need, whereas a life directed wholly toward God overcomes harmful habits and uses its gifts to help others and win souls; and walking without wholehearted purpose is unacceptable, with bodily and worldly influences overcoming higher powers.
A single eye is a mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit to discern divine agency and cooperate with heaven, with faith taking hold on God alone so the whole life is full of light and able to do good. An evil eye is a mind diverted from the divine to the human, trusting in man and human inventions, making flesh its arm and conforming to a human standard, and whatever turns the mind from God to man in this way darkens inner light, hinders cooperation with God in personal salvation, and makes it impossible to be a light to the world. This includes joining secret societies and alliance with the ungodly, leaning on human wisdom instead of God, and letting another's judgment control, for the eye represents the mind's spiritual focus that when single and fixed on God enlightens the whole person and when turned toward human inventions and trust in people leaves darkened. Therefore motives must be examined in the light of eternity with purpose fixed on God's glory rather than self, and self-wisdom and self-reliance must not replace dependence on God but be set aside to look to the Lord for wisdom. Those who make God their trust and dependence rather than leaning on human wisdom can serve faithfully and gain wisdom through doing His work, and those who seek His guidance and do not pursue ambition for themselves have heavenly wisdom.
Being absorbed in selfish interests shows lack of undivided purpose, for the single eye means being wholly directed toward God's glory and doing work for that glory. When God's people seek their own glory instead of devotion to Him they lack singleness of purpose and are in a backslidden state, and a Christian who lives to gratify self and please the world, including through outward adornment, does not have this undivided aim centered on Jesus and His character. When self-seeking governs, inward life and work lack spiritual virtue, for genuine religious service requires an eye fixed singly on God's glory. Those in authority whose eyes are not single to God's glory and who fail to distinguish between those who serve God and those who do not are full of spiritual darkness. Putting personal advantage, convenience, praise, supremacy, and engrossing amusements such as ball games ahead of God's work reveals a double-minded state that supersedes His revealed will and leaves service fruitless.
Keeping purpose fixed on duty and God's glory rather than present appearances, feelings, sympathies, impulses, human likes or influence keeps the path bright and places one in the channel of light, with self put aside and Jesus lifted up, steady in sickness or health and abundance or want, following providence with gratitude and obeying requirements. The mind is strengthened and enlightened when directed away from common matters and fixed on eternal things, especially the Scriptures and the knowledge of God, and earnest study of truth including salvation expands the mind. Singleness requires keeping the soul free from defilement, thinking soberly, watching unto prayer continually, keeping the heart pure and bringing thoughts into obedience to God's will, with fidelity and living faith clinging to Jesus so that heavenly protection surrounds against destructive arts, while separating from Christ by sin and continued disregard of requirements removes that protection and leaves in great peril. Those who live for themselves lack this single purpose and cannot enter God's kingdom, whereas an eye fixed wholly on God's glory directs the whole life toward heavenly treasure and faithful service, and giving with sincere undivided aim for God's glory does not lose its reward even if the offering is misused, for God takes account of willingness or reluctance and motive. When there is singleness of heart in worshiping God and making devotion to Christ the object of life through renewing and reforming by the Spirit, with humble confession and the fallow ground of the heart broken up, discernment comes and eyes are opened to wondrous things out of God's law, responsibility makes men co-laborers with God to deliver others from spiritual death, the windows of the soul opened heavenward behold Christ as the Lamb of God, divine rays fill every corner, and light then flashes out to the world with Christ seen as altogether lovely and the center of attraction and words spoken in season with needed warnings in church and home.
Further points
The single eye directs the whole mind and life toward God's glory. Those given greater responsibility have still greater need to keep that purpose constantly before them. Every mental faculty is to be consecrated to God and used for His glory in meekness, humility and trust, rather than in self-esteem, pride, jealousy, ambition or worldly care.