Let’s take a poll. Which picture do you think is the natural photo? Three of them have filters, one of them doesn’t.
A.
B.
C.
Or D.
I went on a run the other night and took this picture.
Each photo looks like it could be the real, all natural one, don’t they? But three of them have a filter applied.
I’m sure some of you photography experts could pick out the all natural photo, but go with me here.
I think there’s a parable in this experiment for us that we need to understand about our life with God. Many of us have been seeing the world, seeing God, and seeing our daily lives through a filter for so long we don’t know what’s normal and what’s not normal.
We can’t tell the difference between reality and what isn’t reality.
We get mad at God every time something doesn’t go our way because we see Him as a distant dictator (like our mentally absent but loud father)
We think the world is out to get us every time we hit an inconvenient red light because it seems like nothing is on our side (like our mother who was barely encouraging and semi-left us on our own to figure out life by ourselves)
We think no one likes us or wants to spend time with us because we get left out of group chats (like that time the most insecure person in the school belittled you because they thought you were cooler than them and everyone else turned their back on you, too)
Things happen to us and those things shape how we see the world, everything in it, and the God who created it. But scripture has some encouragement for us:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
—Romans 12:2 ESV
Often, when things happen, and it’s typically bad things, we start to see the world through the lens of that thing. Even worse, we start to believe the lies associated with that bad thing.
THING: Suffering
LIE: God must not love me.
LIFE RESULT: A general sense of hopelessness and a lack of seeking God.
ACTUAL TRUTH: God is loving us by making us more like Christ and therefore I can rejoice in suffering even though it’s hard. (Romans 5:3-5)
THING: Lost my job
LIE: God may love me for salvation, but He doesn’t care about the rest of my life
LIFE RESULT: Will go to church happily and even serve but will not include God into any part of life from Monday-Saturday.
ACTUAL TRUTH: God does care about us and is potentially stripping away a job to show us we rely more on the job than on Him for what we need. We can lean in knowing Be has something for us. (Matthew 6:19-34)
THING: Bad childhood
LIE: I’ll never have a stable family and no one, including God, can be trusted
LIFE RESULT: Will go through life on survival mode trying to do whatever it takes to ensure they are taken care of — not trusting God in any way and potentially hurting the people around them in the process.
ACTUAL TRUTH: God is not pleased with a bad childhood. He wants peace in a home (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Sometimes parents abandon their responsibility to care for and nourish, which is where God steps in (Psalm 27:10-11a).
THING: Falling out of contact with friends
LIE: I’ll always be lonely
LIFE RESULT: Always assuming people don’t want anything to do with you and that others would rather you not be around in social settings.
ACTUAL TRUTH: There are a million reasons why someone may drift out of our lives. Instead of assuming the one most hurtful to us, we can extend grace to ourselves and that person. We can then move toward praying for and searching for a new biblical community, which we know God has planned for us. Chances are He wants to mold us and shape us to be more like Him in the process of looking for that community. (Romans 8:28-29)
When we believe and live like lies are true we get a distorted reality.
In order for a lie to make sense, we need another lie to prop it up. And we need another lie to prop that one up. And before we know it we’ve built a web of lies so complex we don’t know the beginning from the end.
Distorted reality.
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Literally: Don’t allow your mind and life to be shaped by the world, but be transformed by the continual renewal of your mind.
But how?
By presenting our bodies (and minds) to Him as a living sacrifice.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
—Romans 12:1 ESV
The thing about a sacrifice to God is that He decides what He wants to do with it.
When we approach Him daily with our arms and minds open to Him saying, “Here I am, Lord. Renew my mind. Teach me what is true and clear out what is untrue.” And we proceed to seek Him in His Word. He leads us away from the lies and into the truth.
He gives us the proper filter by which to see the world: a mind set on truth.
So maybe you’ve had a host of things happen to you that range from inconvenient to terrible.
Maybe you twitch every time the phone rings because that one time you answered to some really bad news.
Maybe you haven’t had any of that but still you’re confused when you try to navigate the world.
Regardless of your situation, what’s true is that God wants to meet you this morning and renew your mind.
He wants to lead you into truth.
He wants to help you live from a place of truth.
He loves you.
He wants you to relax in His presence and let the lies — even the scary ones — come to the surface so He can remove them from you.
He wants to give you the peace that’s associated with truth and take away the anxiety that’s associated with lies.
Let Him.
He wants to help you see the world through His eyes — not your distorted view.
What are you holding onto that you need to let go?
By the way, it was C.
—Brandon
Thanks for giving us the answer to the photo quiz. That was the one I thought, but glad to have confirmation. It was a great way to illustrate your point. We strive to see things God’s way.