Your Dirty Windshield
A number of years ago, while driving along the Gulf Coast of Florida, on the way to visit my wife’s parents, we unexpectedly encountered swarms of bugs that created dangerous driving conditions for us and every other car on the road. These bugs (flies), known as lovebugs, pair together with a mate, attach themselves to one another, and fly in tandem, hence, the affectionate name given to them. They are attracted to the fumes emitted from vehicles, often surrounding moving cars so thickly as to create a cloud, many getting splattered onto windshields and grills of those vehicles, thus making visibility all but impossible.
Lovebugs are only really a nuisance during their two mating seasons, spring and late summer. Most of their life cycle is spent as larvae, they only have a life span of a three or four days, but if you travel through the humid climate of Florida during those few days, beware. Not only do lovebugs affect driving visibility, they can also do damage to your car’s engine and paint. As soon as we got to our destination, with our windshield and hood splattered with bugs, we were instructed to go straight to the car wash.
Maybe you have not encountered lovebugs, but I am sure you have driven when your windshield became dirty due to old wiper blades or your washer fluid reservoir being empty. When dirt and grime build up on your windshield, it is hard to see the road in front of you, making driving dangerous and unsafe. Clean windshields make driving both easier and safer.
Just as dirty windshields hinder our ability to see the road in front of us, dirty hearts also hinder us from seeing God. In the Beatitudes, Jesus says this – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). In this verse, the Greek word for “pure” (katharos) means purified, clean, unstained from guilt, free from the contaminating influences of sin. Notice what is doesn’t say – perfect. Instead, being pure in heart means having an uncompromised desire to please God, one with no hidden motives. We cannot “see” God with our physical eyes (Colossians 1:15), but in my understanding, “seeing God” is fellowship with Him that goes beyond ordinary sight, having a supernatural perception of His presence. In theological terms this is often called a beatific vision.
It is God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, who purifies our heart. Our purity comes as we in faith obey (a word we do not like in the 21st-century) God’s Word and trust in the promises that flow out of the finished work of Christ (1 Peter 1:22-23).
After his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his conniving scheme to cover it up (read 2 Samuel 11) was exposed by the prophet Nathan, here is what David cried out, found in Psalm 51:10-12 – “Create in me a clean [pure] heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
So, I ask you, do you have a dirty windshield (heart) that is keeping you from seeing the unimaginable beauty of God? If so, today, and every day, ask God to shape in you a pure heart, and by doing so, a clean windshield that allows you to see God clearly?
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