If you’re old enough to remember, there was the song that started this way.
“O be careful little eyes what you seeO be careful little eyes what you seeFor the Father up aboveIs looking down in loveSo, be careful little eyes what you see”
The words of this song can apply so much more in today’s world. Our eyes see so very much. Our brains get overwhelmed with images and information that are coming in through our eyes.
The brain is particularly adept at processing visual information, meaning it can quickly absorb what you see compared to other senses. According to research, the human brain can process visual information at a very rapid rate, with studies showing it can process an entire image in as little as 13 milliseconds, essentially “in the blink of an eye” – making it significantly faster than our conscious perception allows us to register.
So why is this important? Have you ever got a song stuck in your head and wonder where you even heard that song that day? Finally you remembered that you heard it playing in a grocery store or something like that. Or if you know the song that I referenced then it’s caught in your head. You didn’t even hear it, you saw it. You see how what you see does the same. You don’t realize it, but you’re force feeding your brain with whatever you’re looking at. You may not recall it because consciously you don’t remember seeing it, but it’s there. This is why unconsciously scrolling through things on your device can be bad for you.
Add to this something that was explained to me this way. You may think while you’re scrolling on your phone that your brain is at rest. The opposite is actually true. It’s like having a vehicle in neutral with the gas pedal to the floor. Your engine will be revved up giving all its got while sitting still. This is what scrolling does.
So again why is this important? Eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. If your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light. If your eyes are not good, then your whole body will be in the dark. If the light in your body has become dark, you will live in a very dark place (Matthew 6:22-23 Easy English). If our eyes are like lamps and we are constantly covering them with things, then the lamp will become dark. Just like a lamp whose globe has been darkened and sheds no light. We can darken our light so much that we are no longer casting light. Then we can keep smothering this light until it goes out. This can result in us ending up in darkness. It can cause depression, anxiety, anger, and other emotions to grow in the darkness. Though going through this should push us towards Jesus. Too many times these things can cause us to draw away from God. In drawing away it causes the darkness to grow even darker.
Instead we should look and think on things that are beneficial. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed (James 1:25 KJV).
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8 KJV). For the things we look at will be the things we think on and the things we think on are what we become. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7 KJV).
So be careful little eyes what you see.
Proverbs 4:20-22 KJV 20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Psalm 119:105 KJV Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.