Holy Boldness

Heaven. Remember when Jesus told the Church of Laodocia, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in fire so that you may become rich…” ? (Rev. 3:18) The more a person values the opinion of God, the more weight that person carries with God and will receive assistance from heaven while on the earth. When a person does seek divine favor, that one will be full of faith. But seeking the favor of man destroys faith. Jesus asked this ques tion, “How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (John 5:44) With this question, Jesus insinuated that seeking man’s favor actually undermines a person’s faith. God is not fickle. When a person seeks His favor through seeking and doing His will, He will be known, appreciated, and trusted by the Lord. God loves all mankind but He does not trust them all. It sounds odd, doesn’t it, to say that there are certain people that God does not trust? But intuitively, we know it to be true, don’t we? But we also know that there are those He deeply trusts and those He trusts are those to whom He imparts authority. What is the actual benefit of having treasure in Heaven over having it on the earth? Jesus next statement in the sermon gives the answer. Closely connected to the issue of spiritual treasure is the of focus of the eye. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23) What constitutes a “healthy” eye? The eye is what a person uses to focus. It relates to the motivational impulse of a person’s life. What drives a person or moves them forward. A healthy eye sees clearly with a single focus. Single-eyed devotion has but one pursuit, one treasure, one source of light, and that one impulse is to be pleasing to the Lord. Earlier we identified one of the rewards of the fear of the Lord was clarity. Here the metaphor spells it out. A single eye or a good eye leads to clarity of vision and a body full of light. Clear Vision

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