The Lamp of the Body
Friday, October 18, 2024
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Matt. 6:22, 23, NIV.
The eyes reveal the innermost feelings, or emotions: love, joy, and hope, but also anger, grief, and fear. Such emotions release hormones, particularly epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisone, from the adrenal glands just above the kidneys. Exposure to cold, hunger, disease-producing organisms, injury, lack of sleep, etc., all produce the same reaction. The experimental animal (or person) adapts by their adrenals enlarging and secreting more hormones. If nothing happens to reduce the stress, the excessive hormones become harmful.
The typical modern lifestyle with its ceaseless striving and self-imposed demands makes chronic anxiety seem healthy. Such "lack of joy" triggers many diseases, such as hypertension, angina, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel, migraines, insomnia, and other stress-related diseases.
Nor is the inside of the eyes immune. Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is one disease strongly linked to the type A personality. These people are highly motivated, impatient, and ambitious. The typical patient is a healthy business executive with very blurred vision. Special tests show a small leak in the back of the eye, with clear fluid collecting like a blister under the retina. CSC is rarely serious, nor does it usually require treatment. Often the change in lifestyle compelled by poor vision allows the leak to seal, and the fluid reabsorbs. Science further proved the link with stress when epinephrine injections produced CSC in experimental animals.
Interestingly, today's text is from the Sermon on the Mount, appearing between "storing treasures in heaven" and "not worrying about food, clothes, or life." The commandment against coveting in reality decrees that we be satisfied. Happiness lies not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you get.
God's instructions do not limit our joy or restrict our freedom, but provide the best guidance to achieving complete contentment. "The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes" (Ps. 19:8, NIV). A large outdoor sign at a local church says it all: "When Have You Last Read Your Owner's Manual?"
Even the inside of the eyes will show it.
If someone checked your physical or spiritual health by looking into your eyes today, what might the "lamps of your body" reveal?
The eyes reveal the innermost feelings, or emotions: love, joy, and hope, but also anger, grief, and fear. Such emotions release hormones, particularly epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisone, from the adrenal glands just above the kidneys. Exposure to cold, hunger, disease-producing organisms, injury, lack of sleep, etc., all produce the same reaction. The experimental animal (or person) adapts by their adrenals enlarging and secreting more hormones. If nothing happens to reduce the stress, the excessive hormones become harmful.
The typical modern lifestyle with its ceaseless striving and self-imposed demands makes chronic anxiety seem healthy. Such "lack of joy" triggers many diseases, such as hypertension, angina, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel, migraines, insomnia, and other stress-related diseases.
Nor is the inside of the eyes immune. Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is one disease strongly linked to the type A personality. These people are highly motivated, impatient, and ambitious. The typical patient is a healthy business executive with very blurred vision. Special tests show a small leak in the back of the eye, with clear fluid collecting like a blister under the retina. CSC is rarely serious, nor does it usually require treatment. Often the change in lifestyle compelled by poor vision allows the leak to seal, and the fluid reabsorbs. Science further proved the link with stress when epinephrine injections produced CSC in experimental animals.
Interestingly, today's text is from the Sermon on the Mount, appearing between "storing treasures in heaven" and "not worrying about food, clothes, or life." The commandment against coveting in reality decrees that we be satisfied. Happiness lies not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you get.
God's instructions do not limit our joy or restrict our freedom, but provide the best guidance to achieving complete contentment. "The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes" (Ps. 19:8, NIV). A large outdoor sign at a local church says it all: "When Have You Last Read Your Owner's Manual?"
Even the inside of the eyes will show it.
If someone checked your physical or spiritual health by looking into your eyes today, what might the "lamps of your body" reveal?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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