I was walking Cooper a few nights ago, and he was in his normal sniffing mode (he thinks he’s a bloodhound). He was leaning into a yard from the edge of the sidewalk when he suddenly jumped back. I decided to take a look, and that’s when I saw it (Halloween leftovers):

That’s an evil eye if I ever saw one (Cooper agrees)! It reminded me of when Jesus spoke about an individual having an evil eye: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22, KJV).

The eye He was speaking of had more to do with focus than the physical eye, as indicated in Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV): “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad [KJV: ‘evil’], your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (See also Luke 11:32-36.)

The Greek word here is poneros, defined as “the evil” (Young’s Analytical Concordance). The Interlinear Greek New Testament translates that same Greek word as “wicked” in the Mark passage and “evil” in the Matthew passage.

Let’s drill down on this. The context of the Scripture indicates that focus is what’s in view. The healthy eye results in a body full of light, and the evil (or bad) eye results in a body full of darkness. This light/darkness contrast is the classic biblical comparison of good and evil. Our Mark passage describes the conduct that comes from a wicked heart, including an evil eye. That’s because the individual allowed his (or her) focus to be on the things of darkness as opposed to the things of light.

Our culture is in a moral free fall, and many Christians have succumbed to “frog in the kettle” syndrome as our entertainment mediums have gone from a slow moral decline to a full-speed-ahead moral collapse. It is and will be harder to maintain moral purity, but the consequences of not guarding our focus are too dangerous to ignore.

Think about that evil eye picture and remind yourself that this is how God sees your eye when you focus on the things of this world rather than on the things of His Kingdom. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3, ESV).

What say ye, Man of Valor?