Labels

Be warned. I have a label maker and I know how to use it!

Mostly, I have only labelled my own stuff. Me & my label maker have not interfered with the “organization system” hubby uses in his workshop. Except for that little incident in the church kitchen, I think that I have kept this obsession of mine under fairly good control.

I just like labels. They help to keep things neat. Predictable. In place. I do have a fear for the day when I have labelled everything that I can in my home though. Will my friends require that I surrender all labels before I enter their homes?

Labels help us know how to react – how to behave in certain circumstances. When I see a container with a label that says poison, I take certain precautions. If you have a food allergy, you quickly learn to scan labels for those ingredients which would cause you problems.

Sadly though, I must admit that labelling is not always a good thing. Two of the things that we can do with labels can cause great harm and heartache – we label ourselves and we label others.

Remember the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:36 – 50) – labelled the ‘sinful woman’ – and yet vs. 37 says that she ‘had’ lived a sinful life – past tense perhaps? Jesus talks about how much she loves because of how much she had been forgiven. When Jesus said to the Pharisees who were busy making judgments, “do you see this woman?” the implied answer is “No” – she wasn’t seen. All that was seen was the label that they had applied – “sinful woman”.

We probably all have issues with applying labels. We apply them to ourselves all the time. Sadly, most of them are negative. That comes so easily. Failure. Rejected. Alone. Unworthy. Unloved. Not enough.

The labels become the starting place for what we believe about ourselves and what we really believe about God and His love. We put limits on God’s love and what He can do through us. We say, “I know God loves me but….”

Once we are all labelled up, it is so very simple to look at others and apply labels to them as well.

Might I suggest that the only labels that matter are the ones that our Father applies?

Isa 43:1 “…Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

MINE – He says that I am HIS! He has put his label on me!

And, how about this one:

Mal 3:17 “They will be mine says the Lord Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession.”

Treasured Possession! Not junk. Not worthless. A Treasure!

It’s not that we can’t come to God if we have labels. It is that we need to know that these are no longer the labels that God sees when he looks at us.

Broken, rejected, sinful, failure become whole, accepted, forgiven, redeemed.

You are his Beloved. That’s a label worth accepting.

Ruth