Reflections

February Reflection

Love without filters

Artificial Intelligence or AI seems to be talked about everywhere at the moment. This technology has the potential (so we are told) to improve every aspect of our lives. I was particularly intrigued to read about a tool from the App “Tiktok” called the  “Bold Glamour Filter”. Launched in February 2023 it uses highly advanced AI to basically overhaul and remould peoples’ faces. The filter can do things like sculpt your chin, thin or reshape your nose, whiten your teeth and brighten your eyes. Many users say they are almost completely unrecognisable when they’re using the tool. Or to put it another way it can create a perfectly flawless “you” that you can then project into the public domain. A“you” that meets all the high demands of current fashion. A“you” that others can envy or even fall in love with.

There is, however, a flaw to this plan which I am sure you may well have spotted. What happens when people finally meet the real you? You can project what you like on- line, but if you want to make a real connection it has to be the real you warts and all. It’s not just on line, however, that we try to present an ideal image of ourselves. We do it in real life as well. A perfect image of ourselves that we think the rest of the world expects to see and will approve of. The Christian writer Brennan Manning describes this image as an “impostor” and as a “glittering image that must be preserved at all costs”. It’s not that most of us deliberately set out to deceive. Rather it’s  a sincere attempt to project a perfect image that we feel the world will love. The trouble is that over time it becomes exhausting. We become terrified that our flaws will be discovered. That others will find out we are not the bright shiny perfect people that we portray. Fear of failure haunts us and we become like an emotional elastic band stretched to breaking point.

How differently Jesus treats those who follow him. He does not ask us to project our perfect image and indeed would not believe it if we did. He does not ask us to scrub ourselves down before we approach him or indeed to go through a series of religious hoops. Instead he simply says, “Come unto me and I will give you rest” To put it another way, “Come to me with all your flaws and weaknesses. Lay down the terrible burdens of self improvement and building the perfect image. They’re just exhausting you”. Jesus does not offer self improvement. He offers transformation! At the cross he took all our sin and shame on himself. At the cross he offered reconciliation with God based on his death, not our willpower. At the cross he offered a new life based on God’s love for us and one that will transform us completely. At the cross He offers love without conditions. No filters required.