Who likes a dirty windshield!

Who likes a dirty windshield! One of the joys about a winter in thaw is the ugly brown spray that the car in front of you splatters all over your windscreen (as our British friends like to describe it). We drove out to Kansas this last weekend to spend some time with our daughter Kristin, whose medic husband has just deployed to Iraq. Is there anything worse than following an eighteen-wheeler with its nine right-side tires exploding every muddy snow puddle on the side of the road all over you? Thank God for whoever invented windshield washer spray! But come to think of it, God did, didn’t he? True, it isn’t called “windshield washer fluid.” But notice what Jesus does call it: “I advise you to buy from Me . . . eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see” (Revelation 3:18 NASB). He doesn’t indicate whether you spray it on like a windshield washer or apply it drop by drop like an eye-dropper. But he’s clear, isn’t he? Spread it over the windshield of your soul so that you can see clearly once again. Wonder what that miracle spray is? Paul is quick with the answer: “I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!” (Ephesians 2:17, 18 Message) Is there anything that can clear the muddied and mucked up windshields of our lives and restore our moral eyesight (“focused and clear”) more thoroughly than Paul’s wise counsel here? “Ask the God of our Master Jesus Christ to make you intelligent [a thoroughly university kind of word] and discerning in knowing him personally.” Want to see the road clearly, as this winter transitions slowly into spring? Then ask God to make you intelligent in knowing Jesus personally. Begin your day with a single story from the Gospels—a portrait a day of Jesus for your meditation. And each morning as you come to know him more personally, more deeply, the promise is that the eyes of your heart will become “focused and clear.” And can you think of a traveler (you and Jesus included) who doesn’t want that for the road ahead?