“What are you looking at?” Have you ever found yourself just staring off into nothingness and had someone interrupt your reverie with this question? Maybe they are curious about what has so focused your attention. Maybe they are offended because they think you are staring at them! Because of this last possibility, as parents we are careful to instruct our children. “Don’t stare!” we tell them. “It’s rude to stare at people!” And we should teach our children this. We do not want them to offend people.
But are we equally concerned about whether or not they offend the living God? Are we equally concerned about whether or not we ourselves offend God by what we stare at? For those of us who seek to please God with our lives, Psalm 101 offers a compelling insight into the importance of being proactively selective in what we choose to look at.
Psalm 101 is a song in which the Psalmist reflects on the love and justice of God, and then pledges to “be careful to lead a blameless life.” It is interesting that the very first thing he says he will do in maintaining a blameless heart in his house is a promise. He promises that “I will set before my eyes no vile thing.” (Psalm 101:2-3).
I will set before my eyes no vile thing! Friends, please consider two absolute truths that you must apply in your life if you aspire to live in a manner worthy of God’s children. First, you are responsible for what you look at. You must ask yourself the tough question: “What do I set before my own eyes?” And second, and oh so important, some things that we might chose to look at are vile.
The idea of a “vile thing” in the Bible must include anything that is profane, idolatrous, lewd, or otherwise contradictory to godliness. What vile things do we set our eyes on? Is it pornography? Maybe we lust after the monochrome portraits of dead presidents that we carry in our billfolds? Do we entertain images in our heads that we would be ashamed to have displayed on our big-screen TVs?
On my Facebook page, I have had a dozen friends from all over the political spectrum post a link to an article attempting to sensitize us to the dangers inherent in pornography: “It’s OK, Liberal Parents – you can freak out about porn.” Huffington Post, not a particularly conservative bastion of news and culture, noted in 2013 that 70% of men and 30% of women struggle with this – and they noted that porn sites in that year got more clicks than Netflix, Twitter, and Hulu combined. It can no longer be seriously denied that pornography has a wildly addictive and deleterious effect upon both its producers and consumers – and that many are affected.
The problem is real, and as a pastor I must note that, sadly, it may be as much a problem in the church as it is in the world. We must address it with our kids. We must teach our sons and daughters not to stare at such things – with all of the clarity and urgency with which we teach them not to stare at strangers.
And what about us? What are we looking at? You and I might need to humbly repent of giving some things our attention, because we are responsible for what we look at – whatever we lust after. What if as a result of such change we experience a renewed sense of God’s presence and purpose in our lives? What if we find that we objectify our spouses less and less? What if we experience the same grace the ancient Israelite did – to whom God says: “I have broken the bars of your slavery and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” (Leviticus 26:13).
I would not be one bit surprised if we found these things to be true. Gazing upon vile things is a poison to the soul that entirely spoils blamelessness of life and heart. Deliverance from such temptations and forgiveness for such sins brings peace with God – and with others. This month “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles… Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Your Pastor,
Bob Bjerkaas
N.B. The image is cropped from Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait.