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Peeling Labels: You can have them!

Everyone has them and everyone gives them.
Labels are a funny.  Not funny “ha ha” but funny as in they make no sense for the most part.  Some folks obtain labels because they have earned them through a series of bad choices or natural characteristics that just seem to merit them.  Other labels are just given because man is by nature a creature who enjoys giving them out.
Let me see if I can give an example using my own life.
Example #1:
“Tracy?  You mean the dude who almost screwed up his entire life? Tracy, the screw up.”  Van Gogh went through a dark period that helped define him as an artist.  I went through an Idiot period that helped define a large portion of my life.  I made terrible and selfish choices and now there are those, who when they think of me, are reminded of my many faults and ultimate failures.  I did something to merit that label.
Example #2:
“Tracy? You mean the fat sweaty guy?”  I have what doctors call a slight weight problem.  Even my most blissful efforts causes me to emit sweat.  This is just a natural characteristic that has given me that label.  People are just putting into words what they see.
Make sense?  You see we all have them and we all do it.  Think for a second about those who you have labeled.  They have made some kind of impact on your life, whether good or bad.  They helped you in your time of need, so they are “a great friend.”  Or maybe they ran you down behind your back, owe you money or just act like a turd to you.  So they are “that jerk” that you can’t get away from.
Now, think about the labels you have been given.  We have been both falsely labeled and labeled with good reason.  We proudly wear the badges that point to us as a “patron” and “friend” and fight against those that tear us down and show us to be “unfaithful” and “double tongued.”  They can build us up and make our day, or they can destroy our self esteem and send us in a spiral of hurt feelings.
There was a brief time in my life where these labels, both good and bad, meant something to me.  My cranium would swell into a massive orb of compliments and confidence when they would praise me and my heart would break and I would sink into self pity when they would tear me down.  I am not sure when it happened but somewhere I got over the labels.  Somewhere I became more concerned with what God said, than what others said.  I didn’t care as much for their praise or their complaints as I use to.  It didn’t bother me that some people never forget who you were and it didn’t help me that some people only see the good in you.  At the end of the day, it is not what they say about you that makes the difference or defines who you really are!
You see the only thing that matters, the only label that really defines us, is the label that we are given in Christ Jesus.  According to Him, I am forgiven and my sins are lost in his divine, gracious forgetfulness.  According to His book of records, there is no other record than my name being recorded as one of His Children.  According to Him, I am not the man who is defined by his mistakes or physical characteristics, but rather, I am simply defined by His matchless grace.  I am not the drunk, I am the restored.  I am not the abuser, I am a crown of His glory.  I am not the liar, I am the truth of His abounding work.
I have lived with the guilt and at times I am overcome with the reminders of my short comings.   There have been times the weights of the labels have caused me to drop under the pressure.  But when I am reminded of the title that I am given in grace through my relationship with my Lord, the strangest things happens.  The labels of this world slide off of me.  They don’t stick!  People look at me and try to label me with what they have determined I deserve and they can’t pin it on me!
I don’t know what label you are struggling with.  Maybe it has caused you to stumble.  Maybe you feel like you can never overcome the labels.  It may be an ego thing, or a guilt thing.  Whatever it is, remind yourself, If you are in Christ Jesus, then you are defined by the Grace of God, not the labels of man.  So hold your head up.  You are no longer the addict, you are the blood bought.  You are no longer the pervert, you have the mind of Christ.  You cannot be defined by your past, because your past is erased.  You are not bound up by your bad choices, you are chosen in Him. 
Get up, put your big boy pants on, shake off the labels and put on the Whole Armor of God.

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