{"id":16303,"date":"2026-10-03T10:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T15:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=16303"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T16:56:30","slug":"matthew-623","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/16303\/matthew-623\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 6:23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been in Matthew lately and wanted to share something and get your thoughts on it. \u00a0I went back and read through the Sermon on the Mount again tonight. \u00a0I felt a strong urge to read it again even though I had just read it last night, and this time I got stuck on Matthew 6:22:\u00a0\u201cIf therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, I got stuck on the word \u201csingle\u201d and started looking into why Jesus used that word. \u00a0I read the sections before and after again for context. Right before it, He says, \u201cWhere your treasure is, there will your heart be also,\u201d and right after it He says, \u201cNo man can serve two masters.\u201d \u00a0The word single<\/em> made more sense to me then.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the part that really got me was the next verse:\u00a0\u201cIf therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I struggled to understand this in the context of what I thought Jesus was teaching about divided allegiance. \u00a0But then I started thinking about something much bigger. \u00a0What am I actually using as light to guide me through certain events, even small ones? \u00a0And how do I make sure that what I believe is light \u2013\u00a0really is light and isn\u2019t actually darkness, something coming from my own desires, fears, reasoning or something else that is leading me towards darkness?<\/span><\/p>\n

I searched for other verses about light and found Psalm 119:105: \u201cThy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,\u201d and then verse 130: \u201cThe entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is that part of what Jesus is teaching here? \u00a0That our eye has to be single toward God because anything we allow to guide us apart from Him can actually distort how we see everything else, and that the way we examine what is guiding us is by bringing it back to His Word and seeing whether it is moving us toward obedience to Him with a pure and undivided heart?<\/span><\/p>\n

It just seems like this went really well with an overarching theme I\u2019ve been learning lately. \u00a0It can be so easy to think we\u2019re seeing something clearly when we\u2019re actually being guided by something other than the Lord. \u00a0That makes \u201chow great is that darkness\u201d feel a lot more significant and dangerous to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

It makes Jesus’ words about building on the rock instead of the sand land differently with me too. \u00a0It’s easy to unknowingly build on sand if we are not careful. \u00a0But we just have to let His Word be the light that guides us, and then actually do what He says. \u00a0Sounds simple, until it’s not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The more I think about all of this, the more overwhelming it feels to imagine trying to stay on this path all alone. \u00a0How impossible that feels. It makes me appreciate and understand the necessity of fellowship so much more. \u00a0We need God’s people around us whose light is shining, too, who can help us see when we’re getting off the path and point us back toward the Lord and His Word.\u00a0 I\u2019m truly thankful for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hope you all doing well over there. \u00a0I’ll be glad when you all are home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ronnie E.<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you, Ronnie, for sending this.\u00a0 The part about the benefits of fellowship is so good!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I also thought this part of your email was excellent: “It can be so easy to think we\u2019re seeing something clearly when we\u2019re actually being guided by something other than the Lord.”\u00a0 That is the pitfall into which so many have fallen, and a pitfall into which we will also fall if God’s Word does not guide us.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The most important thing to remember is that God’s Word is a person.\u00a0 It is the Son of God, and he “is alive and sharper than any two edged sword.”\u00a0 That living Word “was in the beginning with God” and “came and dwelt among us.”\u00a0 He is the Word that Paul wanted to “dwell richly” within us.\u00a0 And in Revelation, John saw that mighty Word of God returning to earth on a white horse, followed by all the saints of God.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible is precious and profitable, as Paul said to Timothy, but the Bible can never replace being led by the Word of God.\u00a0 Without the Word of God in us, leading us in understanding as we read the Bible, it is impossible to understand what we are reading.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you again for writing.\u00a0 Take care until we see you again.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello John, I’ve been in Matthew lately and wanted to share something and get your thoughts on it. \u00a0I went back and read through the Sermon on the Mount again tonight. \u00a0I felt a strong urge to read it again even though I had just read it last night, and this time I got stuck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16304,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16303\/revisions\/16304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}