Fingerprints on the Window

I'm in the last semester of the discipleship class I'm taking.  This semester, we the students try our hand at teaching.  My friend Mindy used this wonderful word picture to share the purification process that we go through after surrendering to God's tenacious pursuit of us.  I hope I'm able to share as well as she did.

Picture a window.  We're on one side and God is on the other.  Before we surrender to Him and give him the keys, the blackout curtains are drawn, separating us from God and his light.  We are in total darkness.

After we put our belief, trust and faith in Jesus and the death he died on the cross for us, the curtain is removed and God's light shines through the window and on us.

Am I a completely transformed person now?  Well, my heart has been justified by faith and I have the assurance of eternal life in heaven, but because I am not perfect, there are and always will be things in my life that God will want to transform and change.  This is the purification or sanctification process.  This is a lifetime of change that occurs so that I will grow and reflect Him.  Those areas that need changing are the dirt and fingerprints on the window.

(I know that on a cloudy day, I don't always see the dirt and fingerprints that make a home on my window.  However, once the sun comes out, whoa!  I joked with someone one time that I hoped a few clouds would come and cover the sun so I didn't see the grimy windows.)

This is true in my heart.  Many times I don't see all the dirt and grime that resides there.  Then, one day God will put his finger on something that needs to be cleaned.  There is no better window washer than God.  He is patient and kind and is always loving.  He knows just how to show me where my fingerprints are obscuring the view.  He rolls up his sleeves and begins the process of cleaning my window.

Friends, I am no small window.  God has his work cut out for him when it comes to my dirt and grime.  Heck, I'm a french door in a house full of kids with peanut butter fingers.  However, I trust him and his techniques.  Every minute of every day I hope I move toward being squeaky clean.