My wife and I recently moved into a new house in a new community after 28 years at our previous location.  One of the items that we placed onto our “must do right away” list was replacing all of the windows in the new house.  The “new house” is actually a relatively old house of about 40 years and the windows were both out of date and single paned as well as so water damaged and neglected as to be permanently clouded over and in some cases impossible to open let alone see clearly thru.  When the wind blows hard (as it often does here) the windows would rattle and shake and let in the chilling effect of those cold blustery gusts.  After getting the requisite 3 estimates, a choice was made as to which replacement widows we would install.  Today was the day that the new widows arrived and the difference that they make to every aspect of our home is striking.  Each window glides smoothly and easily allowing in fresh invigorating breezes adding comfort and letting out the stale stuffiness of a house too-long closed up tight.  But more than anything else the new windows provide an entirely new perspective on the environment that surrounds us.  We can see the brightness of the day and the clarity of the night sky like never before.  We can see the neighbor’s trees and almost smell the flowers blooming in the planters outside just by looking through the barely there clean and polished glass.  Another amazing to notice phenomenon of the new windows is also what they keep out.  These new widows have eliminated much of the background noise and distraction of the outside world.  They keep the unwelcome elements out as well.

These new widows remind me of the way Jesus must look at the heart of a Christ follower who, after many years of dancing around the edges of a fully committed life lived on mission for Him, gives over the last vestiges of what has held him or her back from being all that God intended from the jump.  For some people, just becoming a Christian is like getting one of these new widows.  After years of living a life characterized by selfish ambition or lustful pursuits of blind passion they make an abrupt U-turn for Jesus Christ putting away all of the sin that clouded their vision for so long; they gain an entirely new view of the world that they never imagined before.  They can see like never before because they have the eyes of Christ and all that is seen is through the lens of the Savior God who sees as only He is able. 

But for far too many of us the story is very different.  We get “saved” at an early age but don’t quite know what to do next and without an excellent mentor or guide to lead us from the starting line we tend to flounder around, sometimes for many years caught in a fog unable to see clearly, one foot in the world and the other longing to see things the way we think [might] be possible if only we could find a clear spot through which to look out.  Living “on mission” for Jesus does indeed involve being able to see what Jesus sees and have the heart that Jesus has for the world.  But, in order to see what Jesus sees we must be fully devoted followers with “new windows” from which to look out at the world with a perspective that only comes as a result of having a heart that breaks for what breaks His and a life purposefully changed for His glory and honor.  Prov 20:12 Ears that hear and eyes that see–the LORD has made them both.

Jesus wants more than anything to give us the “new windows” of His world view and His heart and His mind.  Will you accept the “new windows” and see as Jesus sees?  Will you accept “new windows” and eliminate the distractions from your life and learn to live on mission for the cause of Christ which He calls you too?  Will I?