A Cracked Windscreen Still Shows the Road
Pastor Wesley Sing, 18 January 2026, 57 min
Sermon outline
To move from surviving to thriving you need metanoia, a transformed mind, because if the lens you look through is darkened by trauma, failure, betrayal, anger, insecurity, old seasons or grief, even the clear road God has set before you looks dangerous.
Main text
- Matthew 6:22-34
Opening
He prays for a complete turnaround in 2026, a change of mindset, heart set and labour. He jokes with the church about looking thin a week into the fast and gives the arrangements for the rest of it: online meetings each evening and an in-person service on Friday, with the national team continuing for another week. He reads Matthew 6:22-34 and says believers are not survivors but people who thrive.
Thrivers, not survivors
To thrive is not to get everything you want today but to be in constant development where God wants you, fruitful in each season, through training, promotion, retirement and the generations after. Whoever trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous thrive like a green leaf. Do not put God in your box; put your small mind into His plan. If there is a steady flow of TikTok and Instagram but no steady flow of the Word, you will only survive.
“We shouldn't be trying to put God into our little box. We should be taking our little mind and putting it in God's plan.”
- Matthew 6:22-34
- Proverbs 11:28
- Isaiah 55:8-9
Metanoia: the eye is the lamp of the body
Moving from survivor to thriver requires metanoia, a complete transformation of the mind. A good eye means a steady flow of the Word, daily prayer and time with God. The Holy Spirit convicts and confronts you privately with yourself; it is the devil who accuses, blames your family and shames you in public. The people you live with know these struggles better than your pastor, so this is a conversation to have at home.
“The Holy Spirit is not an accuser. The Holy Spirit does not accuse. It is the devil that accuses.”
- Matthew 6:22-23
- Matthew 12:31-32
Lens one, trauma: the cracked windscreen
A stone chip spreads on a hot day until the whole windscreen is cracked; you still see the road, but distorted, and keep moving your head or opening the window to see. Looking at life through trauma, even a clear path looks dangerous, so the survivor drives slowly and fearfully and treats every question as an attack. God replaces the shattered glass with a spirit of power, love and a sound mind, but you must keep saying it until the Holy Spirit changes the windscreen.
“You might be on a clear path, but the fractures in your life, the past trauma, everything looks dangerous.”
- 2 Timothy 1:7
Lens two, past failure: the rear-view mirror
Driving forward while staring into the rear-view mirror at the wrecks and mistakes behind you, you crash even though the direction is clear and the blessing is at the next stop. The survivor says "I can't accelerate because I'm haunted by what happened back there". The thriver forgets what lies behind and strains towards the prize of the upward call.
“Even the now is governed by yesterday.”
- Philippians 3:13-16
Lens three, betrayal: the polarised filter
Like polarised sunglasses that block certain light, betrayal filters out trust, so everyone, even God and your pastor, is seen with suspicion. You are afraid to come forward for prayer in case the information is used against you, and you keep reminding your spouse of what they did in 2007, 2008 and 2009. God often opens the next door through a person, but the suspicious cannot recognise the one He sent. Love hopes all things and believes all things, and thriving needs some vulnerability.
Illustration: "You remember in 2014 I asked you for oxtail and you made me a slice of bread with jam. You lied to me then, you're lying to me now."
“If you wanna thrive, there's a certain level of vulnerability and trust that is required.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:7
Lens four, anger: the infrared
An infrared lens sees only heat, so the angry person sees targets, battlefields and opponents, and walks into the home like a boxer ready with a left hook and a right hook. He describes orneriness, being habitually bad-tempered, argumentative and sour, and admits he lived that way, ready for war and angry without knowing why. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, and a man without rule over his spirit is a city with broken walls; only God can take that anger away.
Illustration: Maybe anger would have served him on a rugby field, he says, but rugby is not life.
“An infrared lens only sees heat. It only sees conflict.”
- James 1:20
- Proverbs 25:28
Lens five, insecurity and abuse: the microscope
A microscope magnifies every flaw until a speck looks like a giant, a shadow on the wall looks like witchcraft, and toast buttered on one side becomes an insult. It is a defence mechanism built by abuse, and no relationship, kisses or presents can fill that void; only the Holy Spirit, meeting you alone behind closed doors, can. God sees the whole tree, not one damaged leaf, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Illustration: On a curry leaf tree the top part is usually diseased, and unless you cut it away the rest of the tree sickens too. The most exposed part of our lives is the most damaged, and the Holy Spirit must cut it away so the healthy part can thrive.
“God sees the whole tree. He doesn't look at the one leaf that's damaged.”
- Isaiah 59:19
- Psalm 139:14
Lenses six and seven: the old prescription and the dark tint
Wearing an old prescription leaves you dizzy: what worked in the hustle of 2016 cannot be carried into 2026, when only God's Word and Spirit stay constant, and a tight-fisted survivor cannot receive. Grief and depression tint everything dark, so the glass is always half empty and you keep counting the payments that never came from a failed deal instead of receiving what God has now. Do not neglect gathering together, where the Word confirms what God is already saying to you.
“In 2026 prescription glasses, we cannot use 2016 values.”
- Proverbs 10:4
- Hebrews 10:25
Two broken people do not make one whole person
Many marriages break because one broken person finds another and thinks two broken people make a fixed one. A healed person leads a broken one to the Father for healing before entangling themselves in the brokenness. Give yourself to the Holy Spirit: sometimes He deals with you mildly in public, but in the quiet place it can feel like being nailed to the cross, because He confronts you with you.
Illustration: He tells his own son at the start of high school that his second name is "No More Drama", and asks him whenever old ways reappear. He suggests families do the same.
“One broken person finds another broken person, and they think that two broken people make a fixed person.”
Putting it into practice
- Identify which lens you are looking through and give it to the Holy Spirit
- Keep a steady flow of the Word and prayer, not only of social media
- Stop reminding your spouse and others of past wrongs
- Wake early during the fast to pray and read, then join the corporate meetings
- Do not enter a relationship broken; get healed first
Closing
As a physical act of faith, the church reads a confession while lifting off imaginary glasses, taking off the lenses of trauma, betrayal, failure, anger and abuse, and receiving the lenses of vision, abundance and purpose. He prays that they will be rooted, aligned and fruitful, moving from seeking riches to being a blessing, and urges them to use the fast to build a personal prayer life.
Declarations to say aloud
- Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that I have a sound mind. I have a sound heart. I thank You, Father, I am peaceable in all things.
- I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
- Lord, we take off the lens of trauma. We refuse to see our future through the fractures of what broke us. We declare that Your healing makes our vision clear again.
- Lord, we take off the lens of betrayal. We drop the polarised filter of suspicion. We refuse to let the one who hurt us dictate how we see the many who want to love us and support us.
- Lord, we take off the lens of failure. We stop staring into the rear view mirror. We forgive ourselves for the wrecks behind us and turn our eyes to the open road of 2026.
- Lord, we take off the lens of anger and abuse. We remove the microscope that magnifies our flaws and the infrared that looks for the fight. We embrace Your peace and Your image of who we are.
- Lord, we receive Your word lens for the new year. We receive the lens of vision. Give us the Habakkuk lens to see the dreams You have for our business, for our families, for our ministry with absolute clarity.
- We receive the lens of abundance. We put on the John 10:10 lens. We look to see every challenge as an opportunity for Your overflow. We see ourselves not as people who are barely making it, but as people who are super abundantly thriving.
- We receive the lens of purpose. We look through the Great Commission lens. We see every person we meet as a potential disciple, and every rand that we earn as a seed for Your kingdom.
- In 2026, I will not react to my past. I will respond to my purpose. I will not see through my pain. I will see through the promise of God. I am not a survivor trying to make it. I am a thriver destined to multiply, in Jesus' name.
Worth remembering
- “The Holy Spirit is not an accuser. It is the devil that accuses.”
- “If you wanna thrive, there's a certain level of vulnerability and trust that is required.”
- “God sees the whole tree. He doesn't look at the one leaf that's damaged.”
- “In 2026 prescription glasses, we cannot use 2016 values.”
- “One broken person finds another broken person, and they think that two broken people make a fixed person.”
Every scripture in this message
- Psalm 136:1
- Matthew 6:22-34
- Proverbs 11:28
- Isaiah 55:8-9
- Matthew 12:31-32
- 2 Timothy 1:7
- Philippians 3:13-16
- 1 Corinthians 13:7
- James 1:20
- Proverbs 25:28
- Isaiah 59:19
- Psalm 139:14
- Proverbs 10:4
- Hebrews 10:25
- Habakkuk 2:2
- John 10:10
- Matthew 28:19-20
- Psalm 1:3
- Proverbs 16:3
- 2 Corinthians 13:14
- Psalm 23:6
In this message
Main text
- Matthew 6:22
