Rob Witham

I spent five years working in one particular industry (sorry for the vague description - the “names are changed” to protect the innocent…). During that time I met many people from surrounding communities - all of whom were involved in the same industry. Unfortunately, this particular industry has a habit of attracting people with issues. I will leave it at that. The upshot of this is that I developed a very negative view of the residents of these surrounding communities because everyone that I knew from that community had some real issues. I now work in a different industry and have had the opportunity to meet some wonderful, decent and intelligent people from these same communities. I have discovered that my prejudice was unjust. My opinion was incorrectly formed based on the characters I viewed as being representative of these communities.

It did not take me long to realize a parallel. There is an old saying that I have heard my grandfather (a baptist pastor) repeat many times: “Your life is the only Bible that many people will ever read.” How true that is. Now, before you respond that there are printed Bibles available everywhere, remember a few things.

• Many countries do not have printed Bibles available
• Printed Bibles, readily available to the masses, is a fairly new situation
• We are called to live out our faith - not to tell everyone to go buy a Bible

People look at our lives. Unbelievers watch professing believers closely.

• Sometimes unbelievers watch us to find hypocrisy to justify their own unbelief
• Sometimes unbelievers watch us because they are searching and they want to see if what we claim to have is indeed real

Regardless of the motives, we are being watched very closely. Jesus counseled his disciples that by their love all people would know that they were his disciples. In other words, the world will judge whether we are truly believers based on how well we live our faith. Just as I formed negative opinions about entire social groups based on the poor representation of a few, unbelievers also form opinions about all Christians (and Jesus) based on the representation of a few who call themselves Christians.

We need to be ever vigilant that our lives are indeed clean windows into Christianity. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen seekers derailed because of the conduct of people claiming to be Christians. We have an enemy who prowls about seeking to deceive. We need not provide any additional ammunition for the enemy to deceive those who are lost. Our lives need to be clean windows for unbelievers to see through.

You may have seen the television commercial for a certain glass cleaner. In the commercial two birds sit in a tree conspiring against a homeowner who keeps his windows too clean (presumably by the use of this glass cleaner). The birds team up to distract the homeowner and then succeed in closing his sliding glass door. The glass is so clean that the homeowner walks into the door and bounces off the door.

As a Christian, our lives should be like clean windows. Those on the outside should be able to see right through us to see only Jesus on the other side. Our lives should facilitate people seeing Jesus. We are called to be windows that provide a view into life eternal.

When our lives are clouded by sin and self-serving agendas we become dirty windows that distort and distract. Those on the outside either cannot see through at all or can only see a distorted image through the dirt and streaks. When our lives are like dirty windows we become barriers to those seeking to enter the kingdom.

Let each of who names Jesus as Lord be ever vigilant to keep our windows clean.