Thursday, November 3, 2016

Two Stories

Matthew 6:22-24 
22 The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.


Everyone has two stories. One story is told by the victor, the other by the victim. One is a story of triumph, the other of tragedy. One allows the grace and mercy of God to shine through, while the other affords the enemy all the glory and negates God's power and authority.

The bible tells us that if our eyes are healthy, then our body will be healthy. How we see things directly affects the outcome of our lives. If we see with an unhealthy eye, if we have an unhealthy outlook on our lives, then our lives will be filled with darkness. The night doesn't stop being night just because you shine a light on it. The day doesn't stop becoming day because we close the curtains and lock the doors and go to bed. We  alter our vision in the midst of both of those environments in order to meet whatever need we have at the time. Shining a light into the night doesn't make it day, but it does allow us to see more clearly in the darkness. 

 It's hard to believe that some people would rather live in darkness, but, sadly, that is the truth. They would rather focus on what they have lost, than what they have left. In doing so, they allow the darkness to grow and become evermore pervasive in their lives. 

They, in essence, bring about their own calamity by only seeing the negative. Their victim mentality effectively ruins their lives. Their pain, suffering and sense of loss becomes their only identifiers. Their speech becomes the weapon they wield, but the wounds they cause are all self-inflicted. They not only welcome the darkness, they block out any light that attempts to get through. Darkness, anger, resentment and self-loathing become the coverings by which they gain their identity. Much like the beggar's clothes of old.

It is your choice which story you tell, where you live, what your eye beholds. Not fate, or God, or anyone else. Yours. 
Everyone has a story to tell. One is told by the victor, the other by the victim. The one most told is the one that continues on...



Ephesians 5:8 

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light...