20 "Don't call me Naomi, " she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. Ruth1:20
Yesterday we looked at the first two things that are factors in our poor self-images:
1. Brokenness: We live in a world broken by sin - so we have birth-defects, our relationships are not perfect and we are disappointed by others and ourselves.
2. Mirrors: Society is like a "hall of mirrors" where our self-perceptions are stretched and pulled out of shape and are not a true reflection of who we are.
But there is a third factor and I call it "the Filter." Filters are created when certain things happen to us that leave deep marks on our souls. These marks become part of how we interpret subsequent events in our lives. Our histories become the filters that sift and sort whatever new information comes into my mind today.
When a good filter is in place, it filters out negative and false information preventing it from becoming lodged in our minds. A bad filter will prevent positive and uplifting thoughts from coming through and only allows destructive and hurting thoughts to come in.
Here are some examples:
- A girl who can't relate to God as Father because her dad molested her.
- A guy who manages to self-destruct every job he ever has because a teacher told him "You will never be a success."
- A person who can't commit to a relationship because they still blame themselves (incorrectly) for their parent's divorce.
- A girl who acts "butch" because someone told her she wasn't pretty
These filters are brutal to our self-images, because they only allow certain information through into their hearts and minds. No matter how many times you tell the butch girl she is attractive, she will not hear you - because she has a filter.
Naomi was in danger of having a filter: She had experienced famine and the death of her husband and sons - there was a filter in the making and it was labelled "Bitter: nothing good ever happens to me." Fortunately Naomi seems to have discarded that filter because throughout the book she is gracious and is loved by her daughter-in-law and the people around her.
Filters can be discarded - but it takes courage!
Do you have a filter? Maybe you need to throw it out!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
