BECOMING You.

Often you’ll hear people say “Oh, I have no filter”, and seem to think it’s some way of alluding to the fact that they are “authentic” and/or “genuine”… but guys, we live in a fallen world… not having a filter or BEING one is really just Satan’s way of passing the worlds toxic waste through you without having to work hard to rewrite his story. It came out exactly how it went in, so good, no work for him necessary to get it back to what he planned for it to be, and to whom he planned on it reaching. If what comes into you is exactly what comes out of you, then you are missing the point. God calls us to filter. God calls us to take everything in, and question it, sort out the good and the bad, and focus on the good… and then God has a lot to say about how we release things out into the world, aka our hearts and intentions. In Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” That is a very clear message and I’d say in the 29 years I’ve been on this planet, we tend to focus on the very opposite. The “popular” topics are the antonyms of the words bolded above. 

I don’t want to put this too literally either… as in “words spoken”. Being a filter isn’t just about what’s being Said… it’s about what’s being done also. What is being brought against you. Have you ever walked into a store or wherever else, and the cashier is just beyond rude, short, and treats you poorly, (for no reason of your doing) and you’re thinking “What’s wrong with this person”… I think the more you lean into God, the more grace you have for those people and those situations, because you realize, no one wakes up everyday just hateful… people become callused from not handling situations in their lives, not having a place to put those heavy burdens by not knowing their creator, and they are just hurting. A bunch of empty cups, with nothing to give but emptiness. Instead of allowing life to come at them and having the learned ability to be able to pass those things and situations through their own filter, and come out the other side FILTERED, they allow those things to spew out the other side onto other people just as toxic and heavy as they came in. The best way to handle those people is the way Jesus would… fight hate with love. Fight heaviness with lightness. Fight rudeness with kindness. Fill their cup FOR THEM. That’s the only way to rebuke Satan on that interaction and not allow his domino effect to continue in You, and through You. (Btw…. traffic in the morning on your way to work is one place to start looking at this in yourself… Don’t let it pass through you the way it went in!😋)

I think the biggest and MOST important thing a human can “filter” is their past… I cannot express how many situations exist out there where, whether it be friendships, relationships, or parenting, etc, people don’t learn how to become aware of how their past has hurt them and how it is changing the way that they speak, handle things, react, and their beliefs and views on things. They haven’t healed from their past and therefore have no way of filtering it, and protecting people from however the past is going to spew out of them in any given situation… But not just any situation, but the way they view life, and how many clouds cover the sun on their life. Your past looms over you everyday like clouds covering the sun. Some people live with it everyday for so long that having a day of freedom from their past, aka a glimpse of the sun and the warmth it brings, is just a quick temporary blip of time. They never truly know freedom from it. That’s heavy. How do you think that affects how you show up in the world? How you view situations around you? How you handle and speak to people? How you view yourself, your worth, and purpose?

A simple example is, a man whose father growing up was extremely hard on him and never allowed him to feel content or like he was enough… Whether it be in sports, school, working around the house, helping him, what he did, how he acted, how he looked, etc… It was never enough. Though likely subconscious and unintentional, how do you think that little boy, now grown up, is going to raise his son? Likely hard to please, ‘it’s never enough’, and therefore disconnected… and the dominos continue to tip… it’s THE domino effect of Satans, and his Favorite tactic to create damage. It’s the cycle he loves the most because all he has to do is lay it on one time, on one person in a generational line, and sit back and allow us to do the rest for him. As humans, with hurts and pain, we often carry out Satans plans just by not recognizing the level in which it controls all we say and do, how we respond and react, and we carry it and spread it… Make the choice to Be different and Do different. Filter. Recognize your past, and Be the change needed to stop the destruction.

This world is crazy. 2024 is going to be crazy. People are crazy. Our attention towards the most meaningless things is crazy. Politics are crazy. Work is crazy. The demand is crazy… Nothing is granted, guaranteed, or constant. There are NO constants other than God. Think filtered. Believe filtered. BE filtered. Don’t get caught up in the cute sayings of “I have no filter”… that is a sign of immaturity and ignorance. Don’t allow that to be who you are or what you’re about. This world needs more Jesus… Jesus exists outside of us as well as within us. Do your part by allowing what goes in you to be completely sorted, convicted, humbled, filtered, and not at all the same when it comes out. A lot of what’s coming at us as humans is not of God, and we are His hands and feet. You CAN make a change in this world through this thinking, and the following of it.

The way in which I’ve had to try my best to follow this thinking process in the things coming against me and my family right now in life has been excruciating. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do… but knowing and understanding the worth in it, the protection of my husband and kids in it, and the way God sees my heart in it… It’s worth it. Not easy… not instantly gratifying… but worth it in the end.