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Beyond Filters

Filters can mean a lot of things to different people. A chef will consider it as an instrument to gather or needed material for cooking. A photographer will see it as a tool to enhance beauty and art. A communicator uses it to sieve and remove unnecessary words and actions, so that (s)he can pass across a particular message to a specific audience.
Most of the time it is used to separate or take out unwanted details from a composition. My focus today is on the analogy of photographers. The reason being that, at the end of the day, filters are used to make things taste, feel or look good. And that is what we do mostly.

I want to believe at some point recently, you have taken a photo with your phone, camera, or by a photographer. This also means there is the possibility that you have filtered or done some kind of editing on it before you uploaded it somewhere or kept it on your phone. Whatever you did with it, I'm sure you can relate when I say filters.

Why is filter the focus for today?

I want to call our attention to ourselves. Make us uncomfortable with our conformity, help us see our uniqueness make comfortable with who we are. If we take away the filter on our pictures, who will we see?

The things you have considered as covering and shades of beauty, competence and achievements - all of these things are stripped from our personality, who would we be relating with when we talk to ourselves? Will that still be us? Are we comfortable being bare and vulnerable? Will we be humble enough to reflect appropriately to see how much we've grown or how long we've been stunted?

Generally speaking, let's lay it out this way.

Take out the filter, the make-up or beards, the clothes, the skin, even our skeletal structure, who do we have left? If all our physical components fade away in a snap, who will be standing? Do we know? Who are we beyond filters? Or if there were to be a separation between us and our filter, how much of us will be functional?
As for me, if I have to answer these questions, I am sure that beyond filter I am more than a conqueror. Not to make you feel spooky, but that's who I am at my core. I don't always feel like it,  but I know who I am without any human validation. I can be a warrior when I have to be, but another side to me is that I can make friends and collaborate so that I don't have to fight - creating a winning synergy. 

But the sweetest part of being more than a conqueror. Even if I have oppositions, it plays out to my advantage and there is always an opportunity for me to thrive. Even though I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me, all things also work together for my good. This reality changes my outlook and mindset towards the things I face in life. Beyond these physical realities - filters, I am confident in the life I have in Christ and the hope I have in Him.

How am I so sure? His word told me, His Spirit confirms it, my faith validates it. I am who He says I am. In Him, I live, move, and have being. So beyond cover-ups, take out the filters, I am of and for the Lord. 

But who are you beyond the filters?

Shalom!
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