Looking at a city during the night we can clearly distinguish between the bright and dim lights. Obviously, the more power is supplied to the light, the brighter it will shine.
Looking at Christians from afar might leave the same impression with God.
In Proverbs 20:27 we read, “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart”. Apply this within the metaphor of the mansion mentioned in Postcard 10. Our spirit is the lamp of the Lord but without the Holy Spirit, our mansion would suffer a major power failure leaving it pitch-black inside.
The brightness of our lights depends on us.
In Luke 11:33vv Jesus said a lamp is supposed to be put on a lamp stand in the open to give light, but then He continued that the lamp of the body is the eye. Note: not two eyes, only one. When the eye is good, the person would have light.
It could be confusing when the parable of the eye is not completely understood.
An evil eye was a phrase which the ancient Jews used, to denote an envious, covetous person, someone who is jealous over his neighbour’s prosperity, loving his own money, and doing nothing for the sake of God.
A good eye means the opposite, an eye that seeks virtuous in life for God and man. In addition, a good eye seeks the wisdom of God. In the New Testament the word for eye was also used in an idiomatic expression regarding understanding. Jesus brought us the Gospel, the understanding of Jesus and the Father. The eyes of an unbeliever is often described as being closed, unable to see the truth.
Not to see means not to understand and not to believe. Not to look for wisdom would mean not to seek understanding.
When we understand the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ and know the Holy Spirit is in us, we would not only have the light but also be a light for others to see and take.
To keep our light or our understanding as bright as possible, we need spiritual input. This input comes through seeing and listening. Reading is not enough. Jesus said that we should consider carefully how we listen (Luke 16: 18). We should pay attention to what we hear.
In Mathew 13 Jesus explained why He uses parables to explain the mysteries of heaven. Then He continued that the person who has would receive more, but the one who does not have, will lose what he has.
Some believe this refers to physical things like money or possessions. In this instance, it refers to the mysteries of heaven, the wealth of the spirit. To get more spiritual wisdom, a person has to look and listen and if he fails to do that, he would lose even what he thought he had.
The more we look and listen, the brighter the light would shine.
Some people’s lights are thousands of megawatts strong, while others look like a small flickering candle.
The way to turn the light brighter is in the eye and ear of the person himself.