I don’t know about you, but I imagine you and I are a lot alike in our view on the subject.
Windows, that is.
Car windshields.
Glasses.
When I was a teen, I was enlisted in cleaning the eaves of the house to make them white again (mildew happens in the South) and cleaning the windows. In tennis shoes, I tried to stay steady on the metal ladder as cleaners dripped on the rungs. One person inside and me outside, we worked together to get rid of the spots, smudges, and cobwebs from each window.
It’s that time at our house now.
It will be our son helping Gary and I as we strive to get the glass in the windows on the house spotless so our view of our trees, flowers, birds, and yard will be clear.
When you go on a trip, what bothers you about your vehicle? Most of us clean out the car and clean it up inside so our drive will be more pleasant. But what about the windshield. Don’t you love a crystal-clear view? Right now, our windshield is specked with several dings from rocks that get in our line of vision from the driver’s seat. It’s a chore to try to get seated so the dark pecks in the glass don’t get in the way of seeing out.
We clean the windshield inside and out to get rid of all the smudges and grime we can. When a big bug invariably smashes into us right in our line of sight, we use the wipers and cleaning fluid to try to get it off without too many smearings. Stops for gas involving cleaning the windshield again along the way.
When your glasses get smudged and dirty, you just have to stop and clean them up. Have you ever been talking to someone wearing glasses that have all kinds of fingerprints or something all over them. Very distracting! I just want to take them and clean them until they sparkle. I wonder how in the world the person sees out of them!
The Bible talks about seeing, seeing clearly, and being blind. We know Jesus performed miracles that healed the blind so that they could see, literally restored their vision. Mark 8:25: “Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
Jesus also used seeing and not seeing to illustrate spiritual understanding. He said of the church people who rejected Him: “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, cloth will fall into a pit.” Matthew 15:14. We have to be careful who we listen to, follow, and believe.
In I Corinthians 13:12 Paul explains our predicament here on Earth before we reach Heaven: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
We aren’t going to understand everything about life, God, His work, and the why of things. But we can strive to keep our minds, souls, and hearts as clean and polished as we can to see and understand the very best we can.
Don’t give up, get the bugs off your spiritual windshield!