In my favorite art museum, there is one painting that assaulted my eyes when I saw it. It is not graphic or ugly – it is a large, black painting. I expected the modern wing of the museum to have a few pieces I shrugged past. But this “painting” was just the color black. That’s all. A big, black, “painting.”

Worthless. 

I stood there and stared at this painting with indignation because I wanted it to change, I wanted it to be something more. The more I stared, the more indignant I became. Nothing changed, so I left. 

I think we often treat our sins like this. We stare at the big, black paintings of lust, racism, pride, and anger. We wait for something about the painting to change and long for our sin to become worthy of our attention. 

Friends, stop looking at worthless idols. Stop waiting for your sin to be acceptable. Sin will always be black, void, and worthless. We need help from God to turn away and look at sin no longer, but is that enough? Do we then live with our eyes fixated on the ground so that no worthless thing is ever seen?

Not only should we spend our lives avoiding eye-contact with sin, we must fix our eyes elsewhere. 

Our prayer ought to be, “Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways.” Psalm 119:37. 

It is not enough for the psalmist to stop looking at worthless idols. He prays that God would give him life in the ways everlasting. 

These “black paintings” of our sinful ways are discouraging. We do not feel like there is hope for us to have anything but a sin-filled heart. 

The beauty of the gospel is that God doesn’t just want us to turn away from worthless things. He wants us to turn toward the most worthy thing of all – his way, his truth, his life. Our sins are overcome by looking to Jesus. 

Jesus takes our black worthless panels and makes them new and beautiful. Jesus kills our sin so that He can fill us up and give us life. 

Only Jesus is worth staring at for all eternity. He will never cause us to be indignant because every glance in His direction is life-giving. Fix your eyes on the everlasting, ever-glorious, always-worthy Savior. 

May the first stanza of, Be Thou My Vision be our song as we move closer and closer to when we “reach Heaven’s joys.”

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light