Singleness of Eye

Singleness of Eye 
by T. Austin-Sparks

Reading: Luke 11:33-36.

I want to preface what I have to say with a brief personal word. I think what will be said may be very testing to many of us and difficult to understand or receive, but I want to say to you that this word has been deeply searching my own heart and giving me some very serious exercise before the Lord for some days past, so much so that not until now was I sure that it was a word for others, to be passed on. I say that because I want you to understand and believe that I am not preaching at you, but that this is something which must really be a matter for our mutual exercise and concern.

The Single Eye and a Luminous Body

Having said that, let us come to this Scripture. First of all, what may seem a little technical - the endeavour to arrive at the exact meaning of these words. "When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. When it is evil, thy body also is full of darkness". The translation is not quite accurate or exact, and that would be well understood because it would be very difficult indeed to grasp the meaning of an exact translation, for here it does not mean that we possess light. The whole body full of light does not mean, and it does not say in the original, that we possess light, but it says exactly: "We are light". It does not really say "full of light", although it is so translated, but it says, "Thy whole body shall be luminous". Do you see a very fine difference? There is a difference between possessing light and being light, receiving light and being luminous, and that is exactly the meaning here. It is not subjective in the first instance, it is objective. It is not a reference to your mind, that your mind shall be enlightened, that you shall possess light in your mind. It says "your body", and the body is the objective side of us, while the mind is the subjective.

You will see that is borne out by the context. You have a glance at that chapter. You will see there is a reference by the Master to "this evil generation (which) seeks after a sign", and He says, "there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah" (Luke 11:29). Now then, Jonah was a sign. Jonah's presence was a matter of illumination; his very presence, his bodily presence on the earth was a matter of illumination; that is, it was a matter of testimony by his personal presence. Then the reference to the queen of Sheba and the result of the queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon was that she, by her very presence, was a testimony to that glory. I think you have got to the heart of the matter.

So it is testimony, it is effectiveness, it is intrinsic value, it is our registration in the world that is referred to here in terms of light. It is not a matter of knowledge; it is a matter of being, "Thy whole body shall be luminous". It is being. It is not having, and it is not knowing here, but what we are personally. I trust that is quite clear, and if so, we are able to go on with the further meaning of the single eye. What we have said is reached and better understood by this principle that is enunciated of the single eye.

"When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is luminous". "The lamp of thy body is thine eye". The body that is the vessel of light, of testimony, demands a lamp to make it luminous. The Master here says that that lamp is the eye, and then He says that singleness of eye makes for a luminous body. We will talk more about that luminous body in a moment. Do not get wrong ideas about that. But singleness of eye makes for a luminous person being present in this world; a sign. If we start with Jonah, that is perfectly clear. Jonah's death, burial and resurrection was a sign and it became a personal matter so that he was luminous as a personal testimony to resurrection, triumph over death and death's judgment, and the cause of judgment - sin. That was the full message for Nineveh. And the queen of Sheba embodies the principle. One thing you notice about the queen of Sheba was her singleness of eye. She had heard a report. She did not say, "I do not believe it, it is exaggerated." She did not put some other construction upon it. She said, "I am going to see." Singleness of eye will lead us to personal investigation into matters, whether the report be good or evil. The contrary to singleness of eye would be prejudice, suspicion, mistrust. She went, she saw, and because singleness of eye predominated with her, she became a mighty witness in the far country to the greatness of Solomon and the greatness of Solomon's God. That by the way.

What Singleness of Eye is

What is singleness of eye? How does it work? What does it mean? If we were using another phrase, we would say it is a circumcised heart, for it is just here that the whole question of the intrusion of a second consideration is found. You cannot have singleness if there are two. Singleness obviously means just one, not the intrusion of a second thing, which second thing is in the main, if not entirely, the intrusion of self-interest. Numerous and deep-rooted are its forms; deeper than our consciousness, deeper than our intention, deeper than our will that something should be, deeper than we can reach, this self-life is seated and rooted and its intrusion, consciously or unconsciously, destroys or prevents singleness of eye. Singleness of eye is the utter exclusion of all self-consideration and self-interest in any way whatever; a complete, unreserved concern and abandonment to the glory of God.

It raises very many practical questions. Can we rejoice in the work of God without being the instrument, without feeling at all bad that we are not the instrument and just rejoice in the work without any place being given to us in it? Or in seeing the work of God being done and going on, do we at once get into it with self-pity or with our own ambition and desire to have some place in that, which is not a pure, utterly selfless desire, completely circumcised in heart? Can we rejoice and be thankful when the gospel is preached even of contention? You remember Paul. "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife... thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds" (Phil. 1:15-17). Oh, their motive! Unholy motive, the evil of that heart that is not singleness of eye, that is not purity of heart. But what was Paul's reaction, "There is something wrong here; people like that ought not to be allowed to preach the gospel. The Lord ought not to use that"? Paul said, "No, whether it be even of contention, whether it is with that evil motive, I rejoice that the gospel is preached anyway!" That is singleness of eye.

Can we be even used of the Lord in any way, many ways, not only in public ministry or spoken ministry, but in other ways - in practical service, in giving - and then disappear? Go right away at once behind the curtain? It is the Lord's interest, not ours - hands off; glad to be used, but out of sight at once, not peeping round to get the appreciation or thanks for what we have done, or to have some place in things because we have helped them. All such matters go to the heart of this whole question of singleness of eye. Can we let go, and stand right back? You must not misunderstand what I am saying because there is another way of interpreting it - being careless, indifferent, "Let them get on with it!" That is only another form to the contrary of purity of heart. But I mean being out of it ourselves, letting go.