S39P1 – Taking it all in: sight
2 Peter 2:13b-14
They count it a delight to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions even as they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, children of a curse.
It is a fast-paced world that we live in. Even driving down the road, there are many images that are presented to us on billboards and bumper stickers. Add to that the screen time that most of us get in the course of a day, and you realize that our eyes are constantly being fed images and symbols, and they communicate meaning. Some images purposefully communicate a sinful message. Other images are rather innocent, yet somehow we find a sinful message in them. The question for us is whether our eyes are looking for sin and not merely stumbling upon it. We must take an honest look at our intentions and the motive behind why we set our eyes on certain things.
Today’s scripture gives us a picture of false prophets. These people, who seek to lure the children of God away from him and his truth, have eyes that scan the world in search of sin. They do not stumble upon their evil deeds by chance; they search for these opportunities. When we look at something or someone, we have a choice to make. We must decide how we will look upon that thing or that person. We can use our eyes as a way to honor and respect, or we can use our eyes as a way to defile and sin. Although it is true that there are many images with which we will be bombarded on any given day, we decide how we view things and what we allow to remain in our minds. Taking captive every thought and renewing our minds continually means that we control how we view the things we see.
The same way we think about using our financial resources or talents to honor God, we should look to honor him by what we set our eyes upon and how we view the world. It is not for us to be searching for opportunities to sin or looking to deceive. It is for us to use our eyes as He would wish. This means honoring people in how we look at them. It also means averting our eyes from the images that would tempt us to sin. We cannot be like the false prophets whose eyes are scanning the world looking for an opportunity to do wrong. We should be on the lookout to do that which is right and good. Father, teach us to see the world as You would have us see it, and train us to look for the good we can do here.