Tag: discernment

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

“Good eye!”

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Mason McCall: https://www.pexels.com

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Matthew 6.

It’s fall baseball season in Florida, and we’ve been going to a lot of my grandsons’ games. The younger seven-year-old is playing in a machine pitch rec league, where every batter gets five pitches. The older is playing on an Under 10 kid pitch league, with umpires calling balls and strikes.

When a batter takes a pitch high and inside or low and away, someone in the stands always encourages them, “Good eye!” It takes time to learn how to not swing at a ball outside of the strike zone.

That’s the first thing I thought of this time around Matthew 6 when Jesus talks about a “good eye.”

[Jesus said,] “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22,23)

What does it mean to have a “good eye” in God’s kingdom? I think it means you see things from Christ’s perspective. You view eternal treasures in heaven as worth pursuing, rather than the earthly that too quickly slip through your fingers. You see God as provider, assuaging anxiety about your daily needs. You give, pray, and fast with a focus on God rather than recognition from others.

That sounds like a good prayer request. “Lord, give me a ‘good eye’ so that I have less anxiety as I pursue worthwhile things. Help me see you at work in my life, past, present, and future. Open my eyes to see the wonderful things you have created and provided.”

Every morning when you wake up, you’re up to bat. You (and I) are going to need a good eye!

Posted in questions

Sounds good to me.

Posted on by William Douthwaite

giulia-bertelli-104575
Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash

I read a lot of articles on Medium, another publishing site, as well as blogs on WordPress and Blogger. A lot of pieces have titles that begin

“The ultimate guide to…”
“Simple tips to…”
“What it takes to succeed at…”
“How to become…”
“Strategies that really work…”

I know these titles are meant to get readers, reposts and ratings. And they work, because they get your attention and you think for a second, “This is just what I need.”

Maybe it is. But what do you know about the author? What’s his or her experience and expertise? What are their credentials? How do you know they know what they’re talking about? I’ll bet you don’t. Chances are you don’t check. Most of the time, you accept their words as authoritative. You read their advice, tips or strategies and think, “This is just what I need…”

That’s scary. Without knowing anything about the source, you are just taking someone’s word for it and implement their suggestions! Why is that? Why do we so easily give credibility to the massive amounts of information we take in each day via blogs, social media, and digital newsletters? On top of that, our friends and family are very quick to share, “So-and-so says we should try this…or go here…or eat this…” No wonder fake news works so well. Or bot-generated comments.

There must be some science to this. I’ll have to do a little research. What makes an anonymously generated idea so believable? Can we learn to be more discerning?

I’ll let you know what I find out. And I’ll bet you’ll believe me, too.