In Genesis 30, Jacob made a deal with his Father in Law Laban that every speckled or spotted sheep would be his wages from Laban’s herds. Laban agreed. Jacob then took branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches (Genesis 30:37). He then placed the branches in all of the watering troughs, so that when the animals went to drink, they would see the branches. The animals mated, and when they reproduced, they gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted young just like the branches they were staring at every day.
What we stare at every day and think on in our personal lives matters. Jacob understood a powerful concept: we will reproduce what we stare at and think about on a regular basis.
What have you been “staring” at in your personal life recently? When situations don’t line up with what things need to look like in our lives, we have to be purposeful to “stare” at the promises of God on a regular basis to transform our nature on the inside and to feed our faith. Always remember: your eyes are a filter and can be used for either good or evil fruit to come forth over your life. If you need to reproduce something different in your personal life, check out what you have been staring at.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” –Matthew 6:22-23