An Instagram filter will change the way you see a picture by using different techniques to alter the image. .. As an example, here’s a photo of me and my honey during our honeymoon:

  Here’s the same photo through a few different filters.

Same photo, but each has a different perspective because of the filter that was used. As I was browsing through some of the filters, I started thinking about how the same can be true of our lives. What filter is on your life, or even on your day?   The filter you use will affect your mindset. Let’s look at some of those filters.    

Resources Mentioned

The Mindset Reset
Walking in Confidence Bible Study  

Highlights from the Episode

The Worship Filter

A few weeks ago, I had a crummy day.  I felt betrayed and backed into a corner. Someone had used me as a doormat and battered me with horrific language. When this happened, I was the worship leader at my local church, and that night we had a practice scheduled. To be honest, I went begrudgingly. I was having a horrible day and I just wanted to sit and mope. .. But as I began to worship the Lord, even during practice, my mood began to change. I started focusing on HIM and began thinking less about myself.  In other words, I was putting a filter on my day. ..

How do you put on the worship filter? Begin listening to music that lifts up the name of Jesus.  I want to challenge you to only listen to worship music for 30 days.  

Come back and comment on how it changed your thinking.  There’s something about using music to lift Jesus up that changes your attitude almost immediately.  Try it and see!   Worship helps us to focus on God and say, “More of you, Jesus. Less of me.”

The Comparison Filter

We need to cut the chains of comparison before we fall captive to it.   Pre-school drop off was a struggle against comparison for me.  I would show up to the school and see another mother who dropped off her child while wearing her pajamas, and I’m embarrassed to say that it made me walk a little taller.  Like “I have it all together and this poor mom is barely making it.”  

UNTIL I’d walk back to my car and see a beautiful mother, elegantly dressed, carrying a tray of homemade, baked-from-scratch cupcakes that look like they were decorated by someone on Cake Wars, and the cupcakes were probably organic to top it all off.  Then I’d feel horrible about myself.

Comparison is a really volatile feeling, so we need to nip it in the bud anytime we feel it coming on.   Now that I have another young child in preschool, I can see how much I’ve grown. When I drop my child off, I don’t care about what the other mothers are wearing or how their hair is done. I can arrive and leave with the same confidence that I started the morning with.

How do you take off the comparison filter? Realize that there is just one YOU. The best comparison is of where you were without Christ and where you are now because of Him. I was dead in my sins and lost. Now I’m free and alive in Christ.   That’s not something I did, but instead something I accepted. It was a gift from God. We can truly change our mindset by accepting what He has already given us.

The Gratitude Filter

My husband and I purchased a home a couple years ago, and our landscaping was slowly making progress. By progress, I mean that when we got the house, we had to push weeds out of the way just to be able to open the door. Because we also own a business and are actively involved in our church, free time is scarce, but we were chugging along on the yard.

I was falling into the trap of getting frustrated every time I pulled up to the house because the landscaping wasn’t finished. It was just dirt and rocks and weeds.

I started thinking about how whiny I sounded. The Lord had blessed me and my family with a home that was beyond our imagination at a price we could afford. He had given me a gift and here I was whining about the fact that it didn’t have grass.

.. So how do you put on the gratitude filter? End everyday thanking the Lord for three things in your life. Try to make it less generic and be as specific as you can. For instance, I’m thankful that my husband’s business gives us access to machines that make working on the yard easier. As you make this a habit, you’ll find the whining fades from your life.   When we change our mindset to being grateful, we find that it is a lot easier to have a good attitude. ..

The Assumption Filter

This filter can be both good and bad. It is said, “We judge others by their actions, and ourselves by our intentions.” We need to challenge ourselves to judge others by their intentions and pay better attention to our own actions.

When we jump to conclusions and assume the negative, that puts a filter on our day.  We start to look at others and think, “I can’t believe that they hurt me like that. You know, they’ve had it in for me since day one. Well, forget it. If that’s how they’re going to act, then I’ll show them I can play that game too.”   The only thing that affects, though, is our own attitudes. We’re only hurting ourselves.

When we assume that people are acting out of innocence, we can look at them and think, “Yes, they messed up, but I’m sure they didn’t mean to hurt me. I know I’ve done things without thinking of others. I’m going to forgive them.”

I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t really matter if an assumption is wrong or right. What matters is how it affects my mindset.  

In regards to all of these filters, the biggest shift is changing our hearts and bringing our thoughts into alignment with God’s thoughts. As we grow closer to the Lord, His thoughts become our thoughts and His words become our words. Ultimately, His filter is the best one to have.  

Filters aren’t always just for pictures, though. If you think about an air filter or a water filter, they are designed to remove anything that is out of place. We live in a dusty area, so we have filters on our air conditioner that my husband used to change periodically.

Eventually, I took over that task and started changing the filters once a month.   I couldn’t believe how much junk was caught by those filters!   I want you to think about the filters we discussed today as if they were water/air filters. You need to decide what you let get through your filter. If it doesn’t align with God’s Word, it shouldn’t be allowed through. We have to make sure our mindset lines up with God’s Word.  

If you are struggling with the thoughts that come into your mind, I have a couple resources that would be great for you. To gain a deeper sense of confidence in who you are in Christ, I want to reccomend the “Walking in Confidence” 21 day Bible study. Each day, you’ll get a new perspective of how God sees you.  Anyone who struggles with security will benefit from this Bible study.  

The other resource is The Mindset Reset. This is a six-week course that is going to take you deep into mindset work. We’ll talk about how to change our thinking and emotions by looking at the life of Jesus. In six weeks, you’ll see that you can change your thinking even if your situation remains the same. And that can change your life.   Make sure to try out the action steps in this post and see how they can change how you look at life.