Lessons In Truth - Lesson 12 - Annotation 8
What does it mean to have a "single eye"?
8. To have a "single eye" means that we see only one power, the power of God, at work in every situation; it is to have the faith in God that perceives only good; it is to "practice the Presence of God," thus refusing to accept limitation as being reality.
"If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (Matt. 6:22).
The eye represents the ability of our mind to see, thus it is related to the spiritual power of faith that has been referred to as "the perceiving power of the mind" (Prosperity 43) enabling us to grasp the meaning of an idea, a fact, or an appearance. Faith as the "single eye" directs us to our meeting with our Father-Mother God in the "secret place of the Most High." The "single eye" of faith also keeps us steadfast to the outworking of God's power even though the evidence of the senses, the reasoning of the intellect, the memory of past experiences, may seem to indicate the contrary. Through the "single eye" we see God's illumination filling our mind; His healing power actively at work in our body; His love and adjusting power moving to bring harmony into our human relationships; His bounty flowing into all our affairs.
To have the "single eye" means to "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). It is an inner consciousness of the omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience of God; it is knowing "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).
It is not what comes to us, what we have to meet in our outer experiences, that determines results. It is the way we look at situations and the way we react to them, that either lights our way, or keeps us in the darkness of ignorance and suffering. When we can become still and know that "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (I John 4:4), then we are seeing with the "single eye."
It takes the "single eye" to use successfully the spiritual gifts that we studied about in Lesson Ten. The "single eye" helps us to discern the motives of others, so that we are compassionate rather than condemnatory. Only through the "single eye" are we able to use successfully the gift of knowledge, of wisdom, of healing, of prophecy; to speak in the language of love.
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Preceding Entry: What is the relation between the word we read and the word God speaks to us?
Following Entry: Where does God ever live and where is He accessible to man? What does a knowledge of this truth do for us? Can we depend on the Christ in others to guide them into Truth?
