Devotions Inspired by the Fresh Start Bibleনমুনা

A Good Eye

By David Blease

When reading the Bible, we often forget that we are reading the words of people from 2,000 years ago in a different place and culture. When we do this, Scripture can lose some of its nuance and meaning. I never understood what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6, so for years I did what most people do—I skipped it. 

But when I learned about the Jewish culture and viewed Jesus as a Jewish rabbi, my eyes were opened to so many Scriptures I had misinterpreted because I didn’t understand the Jewish culture. 

In Jesus’ day there was a Hebraic idiom that was used to describe a person’s outlook toward others. The idiom was to have a “healthy eye,” or more literally, a “good eye.” 

Having a “good eye” meant you looked at others with compassion and had a generous spirit. A person with the “evil eye” or “unhealthy eye” is one without compassion and greedy for money. This expression is still used in Israel today. When people go through Jerusalem raising money, you may hear them say, “Please give with a good eye!” The same idiom is found in Proverbs 22:9: “A generous man [literally, ‘a good eye’] will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.” 

When our eye is good, Jesus says our body will be full of light. How could it not be? Looking compassionately at others and being generous—it sounds like the light of Jesus to me! And vice versa, having a “bad eye” means we are filled with darkness, unable to show the light of Jesus due to our greed and lack of compassion. It means holding on tightly to what we have, resenting those with more, and refusing to help those with less. 

When you are generous, you not only show compassion and generosity for others (just like Jesus did) but you also communicate the trust you have in God that He will provide for you! Let us show the light of Christ today, let us have a good eye, showing compassion and generosity toward others. Shine bright and love big! 

Prayer

Lord, thank You for Your provision in my life. I know You will take care of me, and today I choose to be generous just as You have been generous with me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Memory Verse

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7–8