{"id":5537,"date":"2017-12-31T12:58:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T18:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5537"},"modified":"2017-12-31T12:58:21","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T18:58:21","slug":"dont-let-eyes-adjust-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/12\/31\/dont-let-eyes-adjust-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Let Your Eyes Adjust to the Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steve Minor<\/strong>
\nGrowing up in a small town in northwestern Oklahoma, we did not have a whole lot\u00a0of \u201centertainment\u201d in our town\u00a0to\u00a0enjoy\u00a0as\u00a0youth\u00a0(until the yearly carnival came to town in August).\u00a0So we made do.\u00a0We spent vast amounts of time building forts in the creek near the house, riding bikes\u00a0around town,\u00a0and going to the lake to swim\u00a0or fish.\u00a0My brother and I would often invite our buddies to the church building where my father preached to have a\u00a0\u201csleep-over.\u201d We would stay up really late playing\u00a0Monopoly, drinking Dr. Pepper,\u00a0and eating my mom\u2019s cinnamon rolls.\u00a0When we got bored (or frustrated) with Monopoly,\u00a0we would take a break for a couple of hours and play various forms of hide and seek in the building.\u00a0All of us loved to go hide and hated to be the \u201cseeker.\u201d We hated it because the seeker had to start off in a room that had the light on and after counting to one hundred he would have to enter the\u00a0pitch-black\u00a0building looking for the hiders.\u00a0Let me just say from experience that entering an auditorium to find people without having\u00a0your\u00a0eyes adjusted to the dark is a difficult (and dangerous) feat!\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhile it\u2019s one thing to\u00a0take the effort and time to let your eyes adjust to the dark during a hide and seek game, it\u2019s altogether different and detrimental to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness of this world.\u00a0Someone observed, \u201cDon\u2019t let your eyes adjust to the dark.\u201d\u00a0Have we allowed the eyes of our family to adjust to the darkness of our society without even being aware of it?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nJesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, \u201cThe lamp of the body is the eye.\u00a0If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.\u00a0But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.\u00a0If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!\u201d\u00a0(Matthew 6:22-23).\u00a0Our Lord is helping us understand that if we allow darkness to come into our hearts\/minds,\u00a0our\u00a0lives\u00a0will be full of evil.\u00a0A Christian\u2019s daily focus must be full of light.\u00a0Consider Paul\u2019s admonishment to the families in the church of Ephesus in chapter 5:8. \u201cFor you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.\u00a0Walk as children of light.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Walking as children of light has to mean more than just calling ourselves a Christian family.\u00a0It\u00a0has to mean more than\u00a0merely\u00a0taking our family to church on the Lord\u2019s Day,\u00a0sending our children to a private Christian school,\u00a0or\u00a0listening to Christian music in the car.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nLight must permeate every aspect of our lives.\u00a0And the more we get our families into God\u2019s Word, the more we desire to walk in the light.\u00a0The more we allow God\u2019s Word to guide our families,\u00a0the clearer our paths become. \u201cThy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path\u201d (Psalm 119:105).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nDon\u2019t let your eyes adjust to the dark!\u00a0 What a great warning to Christian families today!\u00a0Have we allowed our eyes to get use to various forms of darkness?\u00a0\u00a0Please allow me to ask a few questions:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n