BBD 02.24.05 Spiritual Superglue
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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02.24.05
Spiritual Superglue
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole
body will be full of light. - Matthew 6:22.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. - Matthew 5:28.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the
Father but is of the world. - 1 John 2:15-16.
An 81-year-old Buddhist monk in Thailand made a big mistake. He intended to
put some eye drops in his eyes but instead of picking up the eye drops, he
picked up a tube of superglue. Doctor's have used a solvent to dissolve the
glue in the monk's eye. A spokesman for Angthong Hospital said, "His eye is
not damaged, the right eye can see clearly after the operation and the
doctors said the left eye also is not damaged."
I am thankful that I keep the superglue in a separate area and cabinet from
my eye drops! If I kept them together, I would probably be capable of gluing
my eyes just like the monk.
The eyes that Jesus is speaking of in the Gospel of Matthew are our
spiritual eyes. In Ephesians 1:18 the apostle Paul speaks of the "eyes of
our understanding." However, it is sometimes translated as the "eyes of our
heart." In 2 Peter 2:14 the apostle Peter makes this even more clear by
saying, "having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin,
enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices,
and are accursed children."
Although we would never think of putting superglue in our eyes there is
something else that is just as dangerous to the "eyes of our heart." That
spiritual superglue is lust. People do not just lust after the physical body
of a woman or a man. There can be a lust for material things. There can be a
lust for power, or fame, or even for the respect of others.
When we succumb, give in to lust, it is just as damaging spiritually as
superglue is to our physical eyes. Lust blinds us spiritually. The "lamp" is
turned off for the "eyes of our heart" when lust enters into our hearts. The
spiritual superglue of lust affects every area of our spiritual life and
there is nothing that will do more spiritual damage.
Lust can severely damage your spiritual life just as quickly as squirting
some superglue into your eyes will severely damage them. Take good care of
those eyes and remember Jesus says, "If therefore your eye is good, your
whole body will be full of light."
Copyright © 2005. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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