“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, 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 that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:22-24 NASB1995)
Other words for eye are insight, judgment, sense, and discernment. And this could be good, and godly, and moral, and upright. Or it could be bad, and sinful, and unwise, and not discerning, but evil, foolish, and self-indulgent. For light has to do with Jesus Christ, and his righteousness and holiness and truth. And darkness has to do with evil, sin, and wickedness. And people love the darkness because their deeds are evil. But if we walk (in conduct) in darkness (in sinful practice), we do not have eternal life with God in heaven.
Yet, there are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ today, some of them pastors of “churches,” who are still walking in (living in, in conduct) in darkness (sin) and not in the light of God’s gospel message. For they have believed a lie of Satan which is telling them that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ secures them salvation from sin and eternal life with God, regardless of how they live. But God teaches us that if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.
And why are they believing the lie and not the truth? Because people love the darkness and so they hate the light, because their deeds are evil (see John 3:16-21). So, even though all or most of them know the truth, they reject the truth in favor of the lie so that they can keep on in their sins. And some of them might even profess with their lips that they believe the truth, but while they are still living the lie, and as a coverup for what they are doing, hoping that they will be able to pass themselves off as righteous.
But the “eye” also has to do with the physical eye, for so much that is sinful involves the eye, and includes the lusts of the flesh and of the eye and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17; Galatians 5:16-21; etc.). And probably the most serious and massive sin of the eye in today’s world involves addiction to pornography and to sexually explicit material and all that goes along with that, which includes adultery, idolatry, cheating on spouses, lying, hypocrisy, fakery, and other immoral and abhorrent behaviors of the lusts of the flesh.
But this doesn’t have to be just what we consider to be “gross sins,” but they can include those areas which many people regard as “borderline” or as “safe,” and so they think they are no big deal. But they are still a big deal where God is concerned. For we should not engage ourselves in anything that is immoral in the sight of God, no matter how minor we think it might be. We should not let our eyes wander to what contrary to God’s word, but we must guard our minds and our hearts against what is evil in God’s eyes.
So, don’t think that just because you made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that you are now good to go to heaven regardless of how you live, for that is a lie straight from hell to get you to compromise righteousness and truth and to get you to still live by the flesh and to not walk by the Spirit. So don’t listen to the lies which tell you that a little bit of “dirt” is ok as long as you don’t do such and such. We all have to guard our hearts and minds against those subtle and deliberately evil temptations to compromise. For..
“You cannot serve God and wealth,” i.e. “the treasure a person trusts in” (see Matthew 6:19-21). We cannot serve God and any idols we might have. We can’t be idolaters and followers of Jesus Christ, too. The two don’t mix. For we can have only one Lord, i.e. master of our lives. If worldly possessions or prestige or sinful addictions are what we treasure, i.e. what we pursue, in place of godliness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we are not servants of the Lord. We don’t know God!
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
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We Can’t Serve Two Masters
An Original Work / January 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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