Captured

I am enamored with Instagram. Truth be told it's not the app itself that captures my attention...pictures do.

I love looking at pictures. Funny faces, frozen faces, smiling faces, sad faces, weird faces, wild faces. Automobiles, barns, cats, dogs, ears, feet, groups, houses, igloos, jokes, kangaroos, laughter, monstrous mountains, nerdy nephews, orbiting orbs, pitchers, quacks, restrooms, saloons, toddlers, universes, valentines, washboards, exes, yokels, and the Zambezi zinger. All may be imprisoned forever.

The "magic" of photography first was recorded by Aristotle and Euclid in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. (Wikipedia makes everyone sound so stinking smart.) Societies the world over have wondered after the marvel of piece of history frozen in time. Photos are fascinating.

Pictures to me are the antithesis of a Christian's life. While pictures take hold of points in time and captures them for eternity, a Christian's life is fluid, moving, ever-changing. The enemy loves to present pictures of who we have been as evidence of why we cannot be something different. But the truth is we cannot allow points in our past define who we can/will be today. Sure, we deal with the consequences of the events recorded in the pictures of our past, but those effigies of history are forgotten by God at our request.

Thankfully our sinfulness is not (generally) plastered on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter for the world's consumption. But even if it is, do not let the weight of the evidence seared in your memory cripple your walk with Jesus Christ. Your journey continues despite the pictures of the past.