IF YOU WILL GROW, SWITCH THE IMAGES

A dear brother shared that he grew up in a dysfunctional home and in poverty. His father would take no nonsense from anyone. There was a time he took his daughter to slap an elderly person who slapped her in the neighbourhood. Thank God for the “Abigailic” move of their mum.

He recounted that any time he had the opportunity to travel to his uncle in another city, the ambience, and atmosphere of love in the home was totally different. He saw a different kind of family. He knew that was the kind of home that he wanted. He decided to spend more time with his uncle’s family. Today, he has a great marriage and an amazing home.

Your decisions are shaped mostly by images that have become models consciously or unconsciously. The images you see have a stronger impression on you than you can ever know.

As a young boy, I would dress up in our complete traditional attire and bounce around in style saying, “I am Chief ___”. That was the image I had.

A dear son in the faith said that before he met Christ, he had a strange love for one of the foreign rappers. He began to dress like him, make his hairstyle like his, and was about to get tattoos on his body. That is the power of imagery.

All you need to do is ask yourself why you do some things you do. Your decision is driven by the images you have built.

Why did Lot choose the land around Sodom and Gomorrah? It looked like Egypt.

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.

Genesis 13:10 NKJV

It looked like the land of Egypt. Remember that he came out of Egypt wealthy. That land reminded him of Egypt. Unlike Father Abraham who had dealt with that strange desire at the altar, Lot still carried that image and desire all around.

Lust is driven by images also. If you consistently view pornography disguised as movies, music videos, skits, and jokes, you will soon notice that your mind is comfortable with nonsense.

But if you begin to behold the glory of the Lord in His Word, there will be a transformation in your life. The Word is like a mirror, the closer you get, the better you see. You will also notice things that you need to work on.

As you behold the Word, and you open up to the Spirit of God, there will be transformation for the better.

But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

II Corinthians 3:18 NKJV

What images do you have?

Do you have to replace them?

© temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa

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