She Almost Lost Her Eye

I received a call yesterday afternoon from my friend and fellow evangelist, Dru Morgan. I could tell that Dru was on the road and I immediately sensed concern in his voice when he said, “Hey, Tony.”

Dru got right to the point. His wife had been out shopping with their children. Somehow, his four-year-old daughter, Scarlett, fell into a store display. A spike that was part of the display stabbed her in the soft skin just below her left eye. Scarlett began to scream and bleed profusely. Dru’s wife rushed Scarlett to the doctor’s office that, in turn, told her to take Scarlett to the emergency room. The fear was that Scarlett would lose her eye.

The emergency room doctor sedated Scarlett so he could suture the wound and take a closer look at her eye. Thankfully, the injury was not as bad as it first appeared. There was no permanent damage done to Scarlett’s eye. Had the piercing spike entered her flesh one centimeter closer to her eyeball, the outcome could have been tragic. Scarlett almost lost her eye.

After the initial phone call from Dru, I made several phone calls and sent several e-mails to encourage people to pray for Scarlett. There was a common denominator among the people I talked to on the phone. When I described the incident and the Scarlett’s injury, the person with whom I was speaking gasped in horror. The thought of a little girl being stabbed in the eye was too much to bear. Whether man or woman, the person on the other end of the phone could not contain himself or herself. They reacted immediately and emotionally.

While I am sure the person’s first thought was for little Scarlett, I can’t help but think the person’s next thought was for himself or herself. Their minds likely drifted from empathy for Scarlett to thoughts of their own eyes. What if that had happen to me? What if I was injured so severely that I lost one of my eyes? What if I were completely blind?

The thought of losing one’s sight is frightening to most people. Why? It is because the gift of sight is precious to most people. And because the gift of sight is precious to most people, the organ—the human eye—that enables the physical ability to see is likewise precious to most people. The thought of having a spike driven through their eye is frightening to a normal person.

Yes, the human eye is precious. It is intricately and beautifully designed. The retina alone contains millions of light sensitive cells. The pupil serves as the lens of the human body’s camera. The iris, the beautifully colored part of the eye, serves as the shutter for the camera. Thousands of times a day, the eye moves, adjusts, and develops life’s pictures without a person giving a second thought to what their eyes are physically doing. Yes, the human eye is precious and, if people are honest, their eyesight is probably the most important of their five senses.

It is said that the eye is the window to the human soul. Shouldn’t then what looks out of the eye (the soul) be more important than the eye itself? Ask yourself the following question. If the thought of losing my eyesight is frightening, even unthinkable, shouldn’t the thought of losing my soul be even more frightening—even more unthinkable? If it’s not, it should be.

Jesus said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

If the thought of losing your eye to injury is abhorrent to you, would you ever consider selling one of your eyes for a million dollars? How about both of your eyes for five million dollars? If you are like most reasonable people, you would not sell your eyes for any amount of money.

If your soul is more precious to you than your eyes, then why are you so willing to give it up so you can continue to indulge in sin? Maybe you think you are not doing that and the eternal destination of your soul is of little concern to you. Maybe you think you are a good person

To find out, honestly answer the following questions.

Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you, no matter how insignificant it may be? Have you ever hated anyone? The Bible says, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Have you ever look at another person with lust? Jesus said, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). If you answered honestly, then according to God’s holy Moral Law, and by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, murdering, adulterer at heart. And these are only four of the Ten Commandments.

If you have broken God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, the just penalty for your sins against God is eternity in hell—a very real place of everlasting flames and torment.

But God doesn’t want you to perish. He doesn’t want you to go to hell. So, He sent His sinless Son, Jesus Christ—God in the flesh—to pay the penalty for your sins. He did this by taking your place of punishment when He shed His innocent blood and died on the cross. Three days later, He defeated death when He rose from the grave. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

So, what must you do to be saved? You must recognize that you cannot save yourself. To jump into eternity, trusting in your own abilities (good deeds, spirituality, etc.), will lead to certain death. Instead, you must confess your sins against God, repent (turn away from your sins), and put your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

Please don’t forfeit your soul. You will either spend eternity in the lake of fire or entrust your life into the arms of the only One who can save you—Jesus Christ. Please, repent and place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, right now. When you do you will pass from death into life and receive the free gift of eternal life. What will you do? Please don’t forfeit your soul.