“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. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Matthew 6:22-23, NKJV

These verses, spoken by the Lord Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, have particular relevance in today’s politically-charged culture. How we see and respond to the exceptional circumstances confronting this world reveal the integrity and faithfulness of our hearts.

As one whose eye was in need of correction for much of his adult life, I am particularly appreciative of the Lord’s teaching. My “bad eye” saw the world only as an opportunity to pursue false idols – those that satisfied my insatiable pride. Wealth. Gluttony. Lust. You get the picture.

My body was “full of darkness.” Praise God, He saw fit to perform a vision correction at a time of particular desperation. My eye – for the first time in my adult life – became a lamp that illuminated His word and His will.

A “good” eye allows light to enter the body and irradiate the heart – characterizing a faithful servant, spiritually focused and aligned with God’s truth. What truth is that? We need only revisit the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount – specifically the Beatitudes.

As I came to see, God treasures humility, empathy, repentance, mercy and a righteousness that comes only through faith. He blesses the pure in spirit – those that serve Him with an undivided heart – indifferent to the adoration of peers. He rewards the peacemakers who bring reconciliation rather than anxiety. This is evidence of a “good eye.”

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

Unfortunately, we live in a world with poor eyesight. Too many – including countless Christians – fail to see God’s truth and blessings, obsessing instead on the temporal, the self-serving and the immoral. They witness, for example, a POTUS whose behavior is vindictive, dishonest, pompous, merciless and corrupt. Their bad eye sees not a man in need of a changed heart that will save his soul – but a redeemer to be encouraged and empowered.

Such are those deceived by darkness – selling out their righteousness while hiding behind the bluster of a demigod. I know. My demigod was my pride by which I rationalized my disobedience.

And just as I pray to God for the salvation of Donald Trump and the blessing of a new heart, I ask Him also to give those incapable of seeing their hypocrisy new eyes that will illuminate their souls. For as warned by Scottish author and minister George MacDonald:

 “One day you will be compelled to see, nay, to feel your heart as God sees it; and to know that the cankered thing which you have within you, a prey to the vilest diseases, is indeed the center of your being, your very heart.”

Are your thoughts and actions guided by God’s truth? Do you strive to emulate the love, mercy, humility and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? If so, your eye is good and your body is full of light.

If instead you exalt and empower the behavior of those who consistently, flagrantly and unapologetically demonstrate disdain for God’s word, your heart may indeed be a “cankered thing.”

“If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”