"The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye
is sound, your whole body will be filled with
light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body
will be in darkness. And if the light in you is
darkness, how great will the darkness be."
Matthew 6:22-23
Satan is still pursuing me. He wants all of us, actually, but the ones he pursues most diligently are those who are straining vigorously toward Jesus, who is the light of salvation. The devil doesn't have to worry about the casual Christians. They may walk themselves away from the light on their own, or with a gentle push from the evil one. Likewise, the saints, the perfected ones, are likely past his reach. The determined traveler who is struggling toward heaven, however, presents a challenge, and Satan pesters them unmercifully.
He specializes in confusing the spiritual aspirant by either appealing to his ego or presenting visions and other supernatural phenomena in the guise of a message from God. So, the sincere seeker gets sidetracked with this spiritual circus, stuck on the ferris wheel in which he occasionally sees a glimpse of glory from the top of the wheel, only to lose it again when the wheel goes around, and around, and around. In this way we can understand "mystics" like Maria Divine Mercy or that Bayside woman who spout messages supposedly from heaven but which contradict Divine Inspiration of the Bible, Christian tradition, and the like.
It is so tempting to think that we are emanating the light and leading people to heaven when, in actuality, it is Christ who is the light and we live in his light when we are close to Him.
"He commanded us to follow Him, not because
He had any need of our service, but to grant us
salvation. To follow the Savior, in fact,
means sharing in salvation, just as to follow
the light means being surrounded by brightness.
He who is in the light is surely not the one to
create the light and make it shine, rather;
it is the light that shines on him and illuminates
him. He gives nothing to the light, but he receives
from it the benefit of its splendor, as well as
all its other advantages."
~ Saint Irenaeus ~
I pray that we all remember to keep our eyes on the light of Christ and to follow Him most closely. We have to keep custody of the eyes at all times and be cautious of all matters upon which we turn our vision, or else we may lock our gaze upon one of Satan's snares and become entangled in his mess. Everything we read, everything we watch, everything we take in through the eyes has the potential to either divinize us or destroy us.
I pray that you all remain in the orbit of Christ's saving light.
Silver "Rose" Parnell
Very thought provoking. Everything we do, watch and see has an impact on our spiritual life. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8 When we become a Christian we think all our problems will be solved but we just get new ones and they are both physical, in the real world, and spiritual battles. But as we go through them with Jesus, he strengthens us and our faith grows deeper and stronger. Almost like riding the waves of stormy sea.
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