Eyes are spoken of throughout the Bible. Psalm 123 begins, “I lift up my eyes to You.” Proverbs 4:25, “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.” The author of Hebrews encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus.” Jesus Himself, taught us, “If the your eyes are good, your whole body is full of light” (Luke 11:34). In Greek, the word translated “good” is literally “single.” In our days, “shifty eyes” describes someone who is dangerous or untrustworthy.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my inability to focus on one thing without distraction, or one person with single attention. Having single attention, presence in the moment, for me is an act of maturity and an act of love. But I have to admit, it isn’t easy. What is easy is to multitask with our eyes and our attention.
I am working on exercising my eyes, my attention, giving “single” attention to the task right in front of me to the exclusion of other tantalizing temptations. I want to be better about giving the person in front of me my single eye. As I imperfectly do this, I notice my listening improving. As I do this with God in the early morning, I feel my devotion increasing.
Join me in this journey to have a more “single” eye. Take one task at a time, one person at a time, and resolve to give undivided (single) attention to that moment. I believe the fruit of this kind of singleness will be greater peace, increased fruitfulness, and deeper love.
