“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
Here’s something I bet you did when you were a kid too. We used to take a magnifying glass, usually one that came from a box of Cracker Jacks. They were quarter-sized convex circles with short plastic handles that were perfect for a child’s hands. We’d take one of those into the yard on a sunny day, invariably on a summer day, and find a brittle, dried leaf. Then we would use the glass to focus the sunlight into a sharp white pinpoint that would, after a minute or two, burn a hole right through that leaf.
There was a dynamic in that magnifying glass and sunlight working together that got something special going. A dynamic that got a spectacular reaction from a physical object. It reminds me of what the writer of Hebrews said about faith working with the Word, “…but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” (Hebrews 4:2). The Word is out there, kind of like all that sunlight filling a summer day. But we don’t get any action until we use something that will focus that light into a concentrated, controlled beam.
I can’t help thinking about all the people in Jerusalem and Judea around 33 A.D. who were not affected by the single, solitary life of Jesus. We all know the truth is that those who came to believe (those who cashed in on the long-awaited promise) were far fewer than those who did not. Most of the city and the country went on with market day and wash day and Sabbath Day as if nothing had happened. And you know what? For them, nothing did happen. They never even recognized what they had dismissed, neglected, or brushed aside. Their attention was simply focused somewhere else. Of course, one day they will both recognize and reckon with it. With Him.
I would not say my own personal faith is like a laser that crisps every demonic scheme at which I aim it. It’s probably more like that Cracker Jack box magnifying glass. I have to aim it on something really carefully and then hold it there awhile. But here’s the thing. Every time I do that, every time I’m persistent enough and patient enough to focus the Word of God on a situation until I get results, every time that happens, my little magnifying glass gets a little bit stronger. It becomes a little bit more like a weapon and a little bit less like a toy.
That’s a good thing because there are some people in my life and others on their way into my life who need me to be strong in faith in the Word. There are some situations that need spectacular displays of God’s grace. There are some things, some really important things, that will be lost if I don’t get with the program and focus, focus, focus.
And there is a fire from God that wants to ignite my soul. And yours.
Ready? Aim. Focus!