With the recent worldwide spread of coronavirus, our country’s “health experts” have programmed us to a new level of sensitivity to germ warfare exposure. During the last two years masking, social distancing, and hand sanitation have become daily bywords. However, Jesus says a clean heart and conscience are significantly more important than clean hands. What goes on in our heart and thoughts is what really matters. Our eyes are the key – they are the gate to the inner life.


As Jesus was speaking to the crowd in Luke 11, He said, ‘The light of the body is the eye: Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness’ (vv. 34-35). If we live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, our body fills up with light. However, if we live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, our body is like a dark cellar.
Jesus calls us to an intimate and loving relationship with God – to that secret place, the heart, where true contact with God takes place. He calls us to be clean on the inside, not just on the outside. As He chided the Pharisees in Luke 11, it is no good for us to appear clean outwardly if inside we are full of greed and wickedness. When computers began to be widely used in the 1980’s, there was a growing frustration among users that the output was less than what was expected. The phrase, “Garbage in, Garbage out” became the cry of the day. 


God always intended that the law of love should be internal (in the heart) which would result in the outward expression of our love for Him and for others. One of God’s greatest commandments concerning love is found in Deut. 6:5-6. ‘And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.’ We fall way short if we only have an outward knowledge of God’s love. Rather, we need to internalize His love and teachings so that our output will bear good fruit and be pleasing to Him.