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“The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23, NIV

Isn’t it a little nerve wracking driving on a country road at night? Indiana is full of cornfields, and you always have to be on the lookout for deer. On multiple occasions my heart has nearly pounded out of my chest as a deer sprinted across the road ahead of me or froze on the side of road in my headlights as I passed by.

When I was a child I shared a hospital room with a man who was in a full body cast because he hit a deer while driving his motorcycle.  There are more than 1.5 million deer-related crashes each year.  These crashes result in one billion dollars in damage, and 150 fatalities.

According to eHow.com there are even steps to avoid hitting a deer while driving:

(1) Watch for deer especially before and after sunrise. More deer-car accidents occur during these times of day than any other time.

(2) Drive carefully when you are in deer-crossing zones. These signs are posted in areas known to have large populations of deer or in areas where agricultural fields divide from forest areas.

(3) Use high beam headlights if there are no oncoming vehicles. High beams will allow the driver to better see the eyes of the deer.

(4) Honk the horn when you see deer next to the roadway or highway. This will help scare the deer away from the roadway.

(5) Blink your high beams at the deer. Deer seem to be in a trance when they see your headlights. By blinking your headlights at them, it seems to wake them up to the danger heading toward them.

(6)
Brake. When you see a deer in or near the roadway or highway, stay in your lane of traffic, but brake firmly. Do not lock the brakes up on your vehicle because that can cause you to lose control of the vehicle.

(7) Wear your seatbelt. Many people who are injured or killed in deer-car accidents were not wearing their seatbelts.

I think that most of you would agree that it would be insane to drive at night on a deer-infested country road without headlights.  So why do we think that we can drive through life without “spiritual” headlights?

It is interesting that when Jesus said that the eye is the lamp of the body, it was in the context of teaching about storing up earthly and heavenly treasure (see Matthew 6:19-24).  Are our eyes open and searching for opportunities to bless people, or are our eyes closed to the needs of those whom God has placed in our midst?

If our hearts are right with the Lord, our eyes should be shining forth the light of Christ in a dark and hurting world.  We should be leading ourselves and others along the road to God.  However, if our eyes have become bad and we have run off the road into a ditch, just ask the Holy Spirit to stoke the flames of love in our hearts again and to replace our worn-out selfish eyes with new selfless ones.

Dear Lord let your Glory shine through our lives to attract and warn those who are trying to find their way in this dark and dangerous world.

(1) www.ehow.com/how_2045463_avoid-hitting-deer-driving.html