We live in a world today filled with labels, words used to classify everything. From the foods we eat....organic, gluten-free, to the beverages we drink....diet, sugar-free, to the movies we watch....action, comedy, drama, to the music we listen to....pop, hip-hop, country, Christian. It seems everything in our lives bares labels, right down to the people themselves. Society labels us as individuals from the time we are children, by our physical features...short, tall, brown hair, blonde hair....and continues to label men and women throughout their adult lives. No matter how we try, it seems we cannot escape the labels used by the world to define us.
As adults we find ourselves defined by labels based on our physical health, our educations, our religion, our careers, our marital status, whether or not we have children, our ethnic background.....the list goes on and on; it's endless. All of these labels used to define you and I are based on circumstances in our lives. Just take for instance being labeled by your economic status when the plant you worked at was shut down over a year ago, or maybe you are a single parent after your spouse has left you and your children behind. Perhaps you come from a family riddled with generations of infidelity or abuse or addiction. All of these circumstances in our lives lead to labels, labels placed on you and me most times by the society in which we live.
Did you take note that I just said most times it is society that labels us, defining us by the circumstances in our lives? That is because sometimes this is not the case. Sometimes you and I can be the culprit, and the worst one at that, defining ourselves by circumstances in our lives, both past and present. We slap labels on ourselves that at times seem almost impossible to remove. It's as if we have applied them with gorilla glue. (Yuck!)
I say this with love and compassion, because like you, I too have been there and some days I am still there. We compare ourselves to the world's standards of "enough". Are we pretty enough, thin enough, successful enough, smart enough? Do we make enough money, do we dress the right way.....you fill in the blank. Or maybe you live your life under the numerous labels tied to growing up in a broken home or dysfunctional family, circumstances from your past, circumstances beyond your control that still threaten to define who you are by labels stuck to you by the world around you.
I am sure there were many in the Bible who knew exactly what we are talking about. For instance, let's talk about Rahab, living in Jericho during the time Joshua and the Israelites were claiming the Promised Land. The Bible is very clear on the fact that Rahab was: 1) an Amorite heathen (Gentile), 2) a harlot or prostitute. Yet Rahab did not let the labels society placed on her define who she truly was, and look at where we find her later in God's plan. She becomes part of the royal bloodline of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then there is Ruth who herself was labeled by society due to the circumstances in her life, and the labels she was given were not glorious. First off she was a widow and second, she was a Moabite, a pagan Gentile whose people were known to worship idols. When she accompanied her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem she was a foreigner. Yet like Rahab, Ruth did not let herself be defined by her circumstances or the labels the world around her was attaching to her, and she too became part of the royal blood line of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What about King David, a man after God's own heart? David knew what it was like to live with labels due to his circumstances. He was a shepherd's son, a shepherd himself, which during his time was not an admirable trade. Plus when we first meet David he was but a boy, the youngest of all of his brothers. But David too did not allow himself to be defined by his circumstances, and he went on to be a mighty king of Israel and also a part of Jesus royal blood line.
Jesus himself chose those for his disciples who the world had labeled due to their circumstances. Matthew, for instance, was a tax collector in Capernaum. Tax collectors were despised by their own culture, seen as traitors and sinners because they worked for the Roman government, collecting excessive taxes from their own people. Yet Matthew too cast of the labels placed on him by the world around him, refusing to be defined by his circumstances.
Friends, the circumstances of our lives, either past or present, are not meant to define us, and neither are the labels slapped on us by society because of those circumstances. I believe Rahab, Ruth, David, Matthew and many others in God's Word knew this. Instead they found the definition of who they were in the eyes of God himself.
And what they found in God's eyes, His definition of who they were, is the same as His definition of who you and I are.
We are CHOSEN. - 1 Peter 2:9
We are REDEEMED. - Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:18-19
We are CHILDREN OF GOD. - Romans 8:14-17
We are a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. - 1 Peter 2:9
We are COHEIRS with Christ. - Romans 8:14-17
This is the true definition of who you and I are, not the circumstances of our lives. So rip off those nasty labels the world has placed on you and the labels you may have placed on yourself. No amount of gorilla glue can stand-up to the love and grace or our Lord Jesus Christ.
And live according to Lord's definition for you!
CHOSEN CHILD OF GOD
REDEEMED part of a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD,
COHEIR with Christ
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