Can You Look Me In The Eye?

Dearly Beloved,

Can you look me in the eye?

Sometimes a parent or boss will say, “Look at me.” They are not asking you to look at their feet or waist. They want you to look at their eyes. Thus the saying, “Look me in the eye.”

When I was in Grade 9 we had a teacher who was a nice man, but not a good teacher. His problem was that he seemed to be afraid of people, particularly Junior High students. He would teach his lesson without looking at us. He would stare at the floor or the ceiling, but he was too shy to look at us.

He was predictable. At the bell he would sit at his desk and stare down at his attendance paper, calling out and checking off names without looking at us. After attendance he would stand to teach, staring at the ceiling while he taught the lesson. One day before class some students brought a step ladder and taped a large playboy pinup to the ceiling. Once the trap was set they removed the ladder.

I was not in that class, but I heard it went as expected. After attendance, the teacher glanced up, turned beat red, and became totally flustered. He stumbled through his lesson staring at the floor for the rest of the class. The students could hardly contain themselves. While making fun of their teacher may have been mean, they communicated, “Look us in the eyes.”

In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus said, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

In that time the eyes were thought to be the window to the soul. Through the eyes, light came into the body. In this context, Jesus is contrasting the practices of the hypocrites with the ways of true followers, particularly in acts of righteousness like giving, praying, and fasting, as well as in whether people store their treasure in heaven or on earth. A person with healthy eyes is humble and generous. A person with unhealthy eyes is in darkness and fails to see what is good.

It is important that we have clear eyes in how we see God, ourselves, and others. In Numbers 13 we read of a time when Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan in preparation for taking the land God had promised them. On their return, the spies reported that it was a very good land, but the people of the land were powerful. Ten of the spies stated, “We cannot take the land.” They said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” The other two replied, “Yes, the people are strong, but God is stronger. Let’s take the land.”

Ten spies saw only their weakness compared to the Canaanites’ strength. Two spies saw the power of God and their strength in the Lord. Only the 2 entered the promised land. It’s good to be poor in spirit and see our own weakness, so long as that leads us to see Jesus and our strength in Him.

Jesus also calls us to have clear eyes with one another. I was once part of a team in which there were some intense negotiations with another team. At the conclusion of each meeting, we looked at each other and asked, “Do we have clear eyes with each other?” We believed it was more important to be in right fellowship than to get our way in decisions.

At CPC our vision is always Jesus. As we fix our eyes on Jesus He gives light to our lives. With healthy eyes, we see what is important and what is not. Healthy eyes guide us to value the gospel, people, wholiness, family, relational witness, risk, and generosity.

May our prayer be, “Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see Jesus.”


Pastor Lorne