"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. If therefore your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness."Matt 6:22-23 (NKJV)
This was the first scripture I memorized when I was new to my faith. I remember being very skeptical about the bible at the time, questioning everything it said. After nine years of trying to decipher the text, I just gave up.
Shortly after that, I attended a real estate seminar in which the speaker made $100,000 in ten months:
"You have to run this business like you are on a mission. You have to run your life like you were on a mission, and you can't be afraid of offending people. Anyone who did anything great always had enemies: Gandhi had enemies, Martin Luther King had enemies, JFK had enemies. Jesus Christ was on a mission, and He offended a lot of people, and He was perfect."
My jaw dropped. I could not believe what I had just heard. There I was, having given up on the bible, growing up catholic but absent from church for the past three years, not wanting to belong to any type of "organized religion," having doubts about Christianity, and I hear this. There I was trying to learn how to get rich quick, and instead I hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't remember anything else from that seminar, but I do remember that I went home that day, found my bible, dusted it off, and gave it one for shot (note: I did not use that message as an excuse to begin offending people left and right; I used it to begin reading the bible again!).
That was the beginning of my first year walking with the Lord.
I went home that day asking two questions:
1. Who was Jesus, and
2. What was His mission?
Before, I would read the bible just to "figure it out," to unlock the code, and somehow decipher it. This time, I read the bible seeking to know Jesus.
Growing up catholic, my family and I went to church every Sunday, and as far as recall, we never really missed. We were literally there religiously. I went to catholic elementary school and catholic high school, but after all those years I still did not know the answer to those simple questions (please note: this is not to demean my catholic upbringing in any way; I still attend catholic church at times and will be attending a catholic charismatic retreat this summer). This time, I was determined to find out.
In reading the bible, I used to just flip through any random part and begin reading. Needless to say, I don't remember understanding a lot of it. This time however, I started in the New Testament with what Jesus said, with only the red words:
"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. If therefore your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness."
"That makes sense," I thought to myself. Each time I interact with people while looking them in the eye, nine times out of ten I get a pleasant encounter. Whenever I avoided eye contact with people, it was usually because I was ashamed, embarrassed or depressed.
"The lamp of the body is the eye..." This is true! I immediately underlined it in my bible; it was the first scripture I highlighted, and was the first scripture I memorized. "What else did Jesus teach?" I read some more. And some more. And some more. I read until I read everything Jesus said. A lot of the things I did not understand, but the things I did understand made complete sense to me. Later on that year, I began meeting more Christians and attending different churches until I found my church home in December 2005.
When I found the Lord that year, obviously people everywhere noticed. I just wasn't the same; I was excited all the time, hopeful, and extra-engaging. One particular friend of mine took notice and was flabbergasted. She and I were on a similar agnostic path before this all happened and was just stunned. I told her that I was doubtful at first too, but when I read Matthew 6:22 it just made sense!
"Interesting," she said. "I''l have to try that." The following day I get a text from her saying, "It works!" Apparently, while taking BART to work she made eye contact with several different people. Immediately, the natural reaction was to give a faint smile of acknowledgment. She went to Starbucks that day and made eye contact with the barista, when normally she would just look at the menu and order. This time she looked her in the eye, smiled, and felt good inside (I have not heard back from her since this conversation, but hopefully she has continued the effort).
I decided to share this story because today something similar happened to a friend of mine. "I know something is changing in me," he began, "because I'm beginning to do something different; I'm starting to look people in the eye now."
It may seem like an insignificant gesture to many people, but to some, the simple act of making eye contact is as difficult as pulling teeth. I told my friend this story today, and I am sharing it with you because I believe that doing something as simple as making eye contact in one's daily life could be the first step in fulfilling one's destiny.
Go ahead. Make eye contact today. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. I want to be full of light; life's too grand to waste it in the dark.
