Everybody knows the huge role our eyes play in our quality of life and in our enjoyment of life. There is also much talk about having spiritual eyes that enable us to see things of the Spirit. Yeshua said that the eye is the lamp of the body (light of our bodies) and our eyes play a big role in the condition of our souls. (Matt. 6: 22-23)
What role is that exactly? What we allow our eyes to focus on and receive leaves an impression on our thoughts and attitudes and can even trigger strong emotions. Basically, the things that we look at we will change our perspective on our circumstances and even about ourselves.
How we view ourselves and the events we deal with act as a filter on our ability or inability to receive what our Heavenly Father has made available to us. There are some super-charged images (a tragic accident or crime) that can leave a lasting impact on our lives with just 1 look, while a steady diet of peaceful or conflicted images (mountain scenes or angry faces) will create changes in our values or expectations in life.
As a result, can we radically conclude that we should be very careful about what we allow our eyes to stay focused? Yes indeed, because what we allow our eyes to dwell on will impact our spiritual growth. It will do this because what we allow our eyes to look at effect our values, our thoughts, our feelings, even our hopes and dreams and our capacity to believe.
While the example of what Jacob did in Genesis 30 to create striped and spotted livestock does not have a direct application to us walking around with spiritual stripes or spots, we believe it effectively illustrates the principle that we are talking about here.
It would be very wise for us to be sensitive and discerning to the things we gaze upon and only dwell and look upon on those things that are true and noble and just… ( Phil 4:8)