Filters

In 1861 the first color filters were used to process black and white film. The process was tinkered with from then on, continuing today. When we hear about photo filters today many of our technologically savvy minds jump to smartphone apps like “Instagram” or “Hipstamatic”. Others may think of computer programs such as Adobe’s “Photoshop” or online resources like “Picnic”. These are all modern forms of photo filtering; allowing you to take a photo and process it through different modes in order to get the picture to look how you want. You can change a color photo to black and white or sepia, blur the edges of a photo, reverse the colors, etc. (The possibilities these days are quite endless). Traditionalists may scoff at the idea of using a computer or smartphone to “filter” photographs. Originally this process was done by putting an additional lens or screen in front of the actual camera. This process was much more meticulous and painstaking, making it more of an art-form than clicking haphazardly on a computer screen.

Regardless of the method, the end result of photo filtering is to take a picture and change the viewer’s perspective of it. It is amazing the difference changing a picture from color to black and white makes. Put side-by-side, two identical photos with different filters on them can look strikingly different.

In the same sense, we live in a society that sees the world through different ‘filters’. God has provided the perfect pictures for love, life, sex, marriage, community, relationships, church… and we, in our longing to be our own gods, have placed cheap, ignorant filters on the truths He provides. People don’t look at the Mona Lisa and say “this is pretty good, but I wish Da Vinci would have put a Sepia tone on it and matted the edges.” NO! People look at the work of a master artist and stand in amazement! Why then, do we feel the need to take the picture God has created for us, showing us how to live this life, and dilute it with our own ideas of how things should look?…… “I know love is supposed to be true, and selfless, and unconditional; but, you can’t get anywhere in this world without playing games!” / “I know sex is supposed to be an outpouring of love in marriage, but that’s no longer feasible in this society.” / “I know the church should reach the ‘least of these’, but then the people who tithe will be too scared to show up on Sundays.” / “God says this life should be one of self-denial and Kingdom work, but that doesn’t exactly match my business plan.”……

For many, the filters have been in place for so long that the original image of how life should be is unrecognizable. As time moves on, things are not getting any clearer. Every day the envelope is pushed a little farther. The decline of perfection that started in the garden grows steeper with each passing minute. The image of Christ is not growing clearer as time moves on; it is, in fact, becoming filtered and augmented until we feel that it meets OUR standard of how life should look. The question therein lies: where is the hope?

From the beginning of time, God, THE master artist, has been creating a picture of how every aspect of life should be lived out. At the dawn of the world, creation was His tapestry to evidence how humanity and nature are to live. As time progressed He used the nation of Israel as his canvas of living intentionally and standing above the norms of society. Finally, in what was by far His greatest work, God sent his son as a precious baby into the world to teach us how to live in harmony with the Father… Our job now is to begin to reverse 2000+ years of worldly filtering on the image of what Christ’s life represented. This WILL NOT happen without an intentional, daily longing to live a life that matches the brilliance of how it was originally pictured to be. The Sunday school answers of ‘read your Bible and pray everyday’ hold the balance of the world in between simply acknowleding them, and the actual application of them. For us to know the artwork intimately, we must first know the artist.

I believe in world-changers. We have a chance to cut through the false realities that have plagued generation after generation and get back to the basics of how life is supposed to be lived: To love like Christ loves his church, to live like the hands and feet of God, to elevate the ‘least of these’ and lower ourselves as servants…

What societal filters are controlling aspects of your life? I urge you today to begin to discover yourself in light of the image of Christ – the truest picture ever developed.