Transparent
My dad eagerly escorted me into the entryway, opened the front door, and said, “What do you see?”
I stared blankly at the car parked in front of the house—there was the mailbox, the lawn, the brick steps. Not knowing what he thought I should see, I offered the only intelligent reply I had.
“Um…”
“You don’t see anything?”
I shrugged, and then refocused my eyes to examine the glass door that stood casually closed between the brick steps and us.
“The door knob?”
He ignored my clever observation and announced with glowing satisfaction, “I gave the glass a clean!”
(You should know now that the-cleaning-of-the-front-glass-door is that chore I’m destined to forget the quickest, primarily because the other door (the heavy, solid one) does such a nice job concealing it.)
When my dad said this, I realized how used I am to noticing the glass door; the smudges, the dirt film from the rain, and the fingerprints are usually quite apparent, especially when the sun shines through. This was one of the rare times that I didn’t notice the glass at all.
“Ohhh,” I said, aware of my neglect. “No wonder I didn’t notice it. It’s actually clean.”
My dad didn’t clean the glass door for it to be noticed. He cleaned it so that it would disappear, letting what’s on the other side be noticed and admired.
So where am I going with this, you ask?
God has distinctly reminded me lately of a simple truth: I find the greatest satisfaction, and give God the greatest glory, when I am least noticed.
A window, by nature, is not meant to be noticed. Its only purpose is to provide a clear vision of what is on the other side. If it does its job, people will forget it, remembering only what they saw through it. A good window should be invisible.
God’s design is to make Himself more noticeable through me, and neither the presence of sin nor the absence of it should draw attention to myself instead of Him.
As we grow daily aware of our need of God and His desire to conform us to His image, let’s not grow consumed in being clean for the sake of being clean. The Holy Spirit empowers us and sanctifies us so that we might disappear, not so that anyone can say, “Oh look, now there’s a person without [a particular weakness]. How admirable!”
It’s refreshing to remember that the amazing process of sanctification is far more than the Holy Spirit scrubbing off those smudges of sin to conform us to His image (though He certainly does this); it’s Him making us more transparent, so that His glory can be seen without distraction or distortion. Our greasy little fingerprints of self-exultation detract from the magnificent, saving Gospel of Christ. It’s all about Him. The world needs to see Him, not us.
And, oh, how glorious it is to be a window overlooking this view!
God has been changing the way I pray, the way I approach sin, and my understanding of His excellence. As Kate said so well in her last post, to fight sin I must start with a great view of the God, the Author and Perfecter of my faith. And as the light of His glory shines through my heart, revealing my sin—just as the sun reveals the smudges on the glass—I can eagerly, humbly strive to be invisible, and to adore not being noticed for His sake. And there, my friends, we find such sacred satisfaction.
Filed under: Humility
That is so true. This was a very good post. Sometimes when we’re so used to seeing something how it is (like how you were so used to seeing the glass door smudgey), it takes a while for us to realize it’s actually clean, because we see what’s behind the door, and not necessarily the door itself. Which is how we’re supposed to be. Letting Jesus shine through us, so He is noticeable, and not we ourselves. This post was definitely a blessing!
In His Service,
~Kirsten A. Gruber
Wow! That is so insightful! I would have never thought that being “transparent” is when we do the most good for God’s Kingdom.
Amen!
Elisabeth Gruber
Thanks for this very timely post…I needed the reminder!
I came here from Beauty from the Heart and I’m really loving your blog!
That is really powerful yet it is so simple and so true. It seems that sometimes we even try to cover up all the stains and smudges on the door. You’re right that we should be windows. I always liked the saying “Christians are {supposed to be} broken mirrors of God”. That was a good blog.
~ Bonnie, Prayerwarrior
You give me hope that there are (hopefully) more than a few young ladies out there interested in more than the latest fashion, or the latest jilting they have received, or the latest itunes sensation. You are actually making theological points! I have not often met such maturity in young ladies your age. Long may your blog prosper. I have linked from mine.
Thank you Stephanie! I’m challenged and encouraged by this post. Thanks!
What an encouragement this post was to me. Thanks for being transparent and REAL! God bless!
Hello, Nicole thanks for the invite. This was a great post and I’ll be coming back more often.
As to the rebelution post, I don’t think we’re actually disagreeing. I think we are just using our words differently. BTW C.J. Maheny has a great book on this called “the Cross Centered Life.”
Grace and Stephanie: You both seem to believe that we agree, but I still believe that I disagree.
Maybe I’ll clarify what I disagree about; some people seem to believe that we are justified by Jesus’ death at the Cross when we becomes Christians and that His Blood cleanses us then, but that later when we are cleansed from sin we are not cleansed by the Blood — and that we no longer need to be — but that we are cleansed by the Holy Spirit through reading the Word and renewing our minds.
I believe that we need the Blood of Jesus to cleanse us daily — that we need to meet Him at the Cross daily and repent and ask for cleansing. I don’t believe that the Holy Spirit cleanses us, rather I believe that He convicts us causing us to go to be cleansed by the Blood. And I believe that once we are cleansed by the Blood, the Holy Spirit takes us the next step forward by sanctifying us (freeing us from the power of sin — the desire to sin and the guilt of sin, not actual sins already commited because the Blood washes those away) and empowering us and making us useful to the Kingdom. I don’t believe that we can be cleansed by reading the Word, because our minds can take the words any which way and it can be kept from hitting us with its true meaning and affecting our hearts and souls if we don’t read it with the Holy Spirit’s Guidance, and if we read it with the Holy Spirit’s Guidance I believe that only reading it won’t cleanse us but rather will convict us in mind and heart to become cleansed by the Blood of Jesus.
What do you both believe?
Nicole– I know this conversation has been sitting still awhile, but I thought I’d jump in and hopefully ensure that we’re all on the same page. =) As Steph has said already, thank you for your theologically-driven attention to detail. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we never want our choice of words to misrepresent our message!
That said, I truly do think that we all really are in agreement. I’ve known Steph for several years now, so I feel I know where she’s coming from as I seek to clarify. You are absolutely right when you state that the only thing that can truly cleanse us (both at the point of salvation, and as we live out our Christian walk) is the blood of Christ. As the author of Hebrews states, He is both the “founder and perfector of our faith.” Jude also references “Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” I believe Hebrews 10:14 puts it most succinctly: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Furthermore, we agree that the role of the Spirit is in our process of sanctification. As Christians, we don’t look to our sanctification to save us or present us blameless before the throne of God…for that we look to the cross of Christ alone. So, Nicole, we agree with you wholeheartedly!
I believe where our misunderstanding occured was in Steph’s choice of the word “scrubbing” (and, as Steph mentioned, “cleansing” was changed so as to avoid miscommunication). Now, this didn’t even catch my eye, and I gave it no second thought because I already am very familiar with the viewpoint from which Steph is coming (as stated above). But if this caught your eye, I hope to clarify in order to satisfy your concerns =).
Her choice of this word was more for the sake of continuing to use terms reminiscent of her analogy than to be deep, doctrinal, standalone statements. That said, however, in the context of her analogy, “scrubbing” can represent the process of sanctification. Through sanctification, sin is uprooted and we continue toward our goal of Christlikeness. As is mentioned in Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” As we press forward in this process of “putting off” sin, and “putting on” the good works He has prepared and strengthened us for, we become more and more transparent. The sanctification process allows God to be seen more clearly through us as we humbly seek to put sin to death.
I’d encourage you to take Steph’s words in the context of her entire post, and now in context of her views as a whole (and now that we’ve [hopefully] clarified the intent behind this particular choice of words). If you have further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email any of us.
Kate: Thanks! That was put real well. I was taking Stephanie’s words to mean something that I don’t think she at all intended — I was putting them in the context of an argument against going to the Cross daily (that I have heard elsewhere).
Thanks for clarifying the heart behind the words and for taking the time to end this in a way that truly honors God and that helps me to know that I can rest a little more while reading the words on this site (because you all really do only want to write truth).
Sorry for any wrong assumptions I had and thank Stephanie for me (if you get the chance) for truly seeking to honor God with her words.
God Bless!
What an awesome idea. I never thought about being a window to the beauty of God’s work in me. I love all the personal anecdotes you ladies use in your posts. They definitely help me understand what your points are better and I enjoy hearing about what simple ways God can speak to people. How truly magnificent it is to know that God is constantly making us aware of His promise. Thank you for such a lovely post.
-Bee-