The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matthew 6:22 and 23
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A generous eye
In Hebrew, an evil eye was an idiom for stinginess and envy. Deuteronomy warns that your eye must not be evil towards a poor brother who asks for a loan. So a good eye meant: generous.
That is why this saying stands among sayings about possessions. How you look at what you have, and at what someone else has, colours your whole life. With a stingy eye you see shortage and rivalry everywhere. A generous eye lets the light in.
Question for today
Do I look at what others have with a generous eye or a jealous one?
Prayer
Father, my gaze sometimes turns narrow and jealous. Make my eyes generous, and fill me with light. Amen.
My prayer
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