Which filter do you use?
A filter is a common word in today’s vernacular. Growing up, it meant a white, paper thingy you used in your Mr. Coffee to keep the coffee grains from getting into your cup of caffeine. Now, we have the French press and the Keurig, and there is no need of the big, white filters anymore.
Filters on our phones and computers make our selfies and pictures look anyway we want. I can make myself look twenty years younger, glamorous, silly, or like a cat, dog, biker, or a banana.
I have friends and family who love to take selfies with Snapchat. We send crazy photos to each other, laugh at one another, and make comments.
You can turn a color photo into black and white or a vintage-style picture. On Instagram, there are over twenty different filters to choose from to apply to every picture we take.
But….
All of us have filters ingrained within us.
We can have filters for different reasons:
We inherit certain filters, people teach them to us, or they develop in us by circumstances beyond our control.
We had a German shepherd named Olivia who loved us as much as we loved her. She knew we would protect her so she protected us. She knew she could trust us, too. Whenever anyone came over, she would walk up to them and roll onto her back so they could rub her belly. She loved people because no one had ever given her a reason not to. (I realize that is not always the case.)
Our current dog, Sophie, does not trust anyone. To us, she is the sweetest dog, but let someone visit or drop off a package and she will bark and growl at them until we make her stop, which is why she must stay behind a fence.
Sophie has a pancreatic problem which also causes behavior (fear) issues. Before we knew what was wrong with her, she was already starving. Her body did not digest the large amounts of food we gave her so she ate everything she found. Believe me it was not good. She ate dozens of eggs from our chickens and a couple of times she ate the chicken, too. :((
Two dogs raised in the same way, but one loved all people and the other is afraid of everyone.
Just like our phone apps, filters influence the way we see ourselves and other people.
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Hurt, betrayal, pain, illness, or any injustice can be a filter causing us to see things a certain way. Our worldview can skew how we perceive God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, or how we read and interpret the Bible.
For example, sometimes I may need to examine why I react to particular things. I have a friend who told me if I always over-react to the same kinds of comments or behaviors (triggers); I can ask God for the cause of this reaction.
He has been faithful to show me why certain things trigger a negative response from me. My trust issues and disappointment with others stem from family dynamics which affected me as a child.
God has done deep healing in me over the years.
I want to see Him without the filters caused by my parent’s dysfunction. And I want to know truth that only the Holy Spirit and the Word of God can teach me without the negative filters of hurt instilled by teachers and pastors through their erroneous teachings.
Ask God to remove your current filters through his healing and truth. Ask Him to reveal the root of those filters.
Be transparent. Remove the filters telling people you are happy all the time and you don’t need anything. Be vulnerable. Let people get to know the real you.
