3.020 Your Eyes Shall be Opened

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

What does it mean that Adam and Eve had their eyes opened? We're reading this week Genesis chapters 3 and 4 and Moses chapters 4 and 5. And inside those chapters we're going to have, especially in Genesis chapter 3 and Moses chapter 4, the fall of Adam and Eve.

In this moment, we have this tree, we have this fruit of the tree, we have this serpent that's coming. And in the moment that this kind of argument is going on back and forth, there's a phrase in there that happens before the event and after the event that I want to touch on today. And it's this idea that their eyes shall be opened.

Let's take a look at the verse and see what we can learn from it. Genesis chapter 3, verse 5 is our verse for today, and it says this: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." Now you notice that eyes there in that verse has a footnote that you can click on or if you look in your paper scriptures you can follow that footnote. And you're going to see some awesome references.

I would absolutely encourage you to take time to read through these to see all the different ways that this "eyes opening" means. Typically, we just kind of say, oh yeah, Adam and Eve learned right from wrong. And that is true.

That's a true statement. But I think there's more we can peel off that onion there. Others see this moment with Adam and Eve as becoming self-aware for the first time.

As we look a little bit later and we see that their eyes were opened, the first thing that happens is they immediately realize they're naked. So this kind of self-awareness moment happens. And then we continue to peel the onion a little bit further.

I think another way to see this is their eyes are opened spiritually and that's how they become kind of like Gods. Knowing good and evil, they realize that at a spiritual level there is such a thing as right and wrong and they become aware of it. Now, what does that look like in our lives, and what does it mean to even have our eyes opened a bit?

I think this path of self and spiritual awareness is something that each one of us experiences not one time but multiple times constantly if we are willing to seek to have it in our lives. This new understanding that we can have, it comes with our learning and growing. And for the sake of example, I share one that I can, I guess I could share openly.

I don't know if it's something I'm ashamed of necessarily, by any means. I'm not coming forth with any sin here, folks, just so you know. But, like, I have found I've come to understand as I trained more, as I sought to understand my own communication abilities and connecting with people, and communicating with people, teaching them, training them, coaching them.

As I've gone down that path, I've become very much self-aware that my tone in my voice matters to people. And it's something that initially, high school years, early college years, I wasn't aware of. And I would say things just how I said them.

And I watched, and as I watched people respond, people tended to respond differently than what I had thought I said in the sentence. For me—and maybe it's a silly example, but it's an example nonetheless for me in my own life—as I continued to go down this path and have my eyes opened spiritually and with myself, I tried to say, "All right, what does it sound like for me to share my opinion in a way that still encourages the Spirit to join me in my conversations?" How can I share my opinion with others and not come across as condescending or argumentative? And I'll be honest, it is quite a path and a struggle for me.

My friends, whether it's the tone of your voice, whether it's the way that you study scriptures, whether it's the way that you interact with others and have relationships, whatever it is, this moment that Adam and Eve had, this moment that their eyes may be opened is a chance for all of us to seek to increase our own spiritual and self-awareness and regularly have our eyes opened as well. I think there's a lot inside of this concept that our eyes shall be opened and it's another reason why I see the fall of Adam and Eve as a positive experience for all of us to be able to have this experience for our eyes to be opened and truly be as Gods, knowing good and evil. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.