Label Conscious?

I’m not the kind to take a spontaneous shopping trip; in fact, I really don’t care for shopping much at all. Today, however, I found myself going to several different places in search of particular items. A large part of my afternoon was, unfortunately, spent at the mall. While walking around in search of my items, I overheard a woman talking on her cell phone. Nearly verbatim, she said that she would say a “real quick prayer” and get back to [the caller]. My first thought was, “Huh, a fellow Christian.” Then, I realized the sadness of what had just transpired. No sooner had I thought what a shame it was for her to put a time limit on prayer, when the Holy Spirit smacked me in the face and brought to mind times when I had done the same thing—put God in a box, in the name of Christianity. “Yeah, I can meet you on Sunday. I’ll go to church, but we’ll be out by noon.” “We need to really pray about this mission trip, because God can do awesome things in that foreign country.” I say these things as if God has to show up between 9 and noon on Sunday, and if He chooses to work outside of those boundaries, I’m not interested, or it’s as if there’s no need to pray for local mission work, because God only really works in foreign lands. Do I believe these ways? I pray that I don’t, but I’m afraid that my actions (words) often prove otherwise. “Father, I do believe. Help my unbelief”, seems to be the common cry among some friends and I, recently.

These thoughts made me think about the labels we put on things. A label that I think is often misused is that of “Christian”. The word means Christ-follower; it breaks my heart to see our nation called a Christian nation. We, as a nation, don’t follow Christ. It breaks my heart to see so many friends and family members call themselves Christians when the fruit of their lives shows otherwise. It breaks my heart to call myself a Christian at times when drag the name of Christ through the dirt.

What do our labels mean? I’m convinced that they mean nothing in comparison to what’s inside the container, so to speak. If I have two bottles of Sprite, and I pour one bottle out and fill it up with water, it makes no difference what the plastic labels say. What’s inside is what’s true. Sure, the label on one bottle accurately tells my friend that he will taste Sprite when he takes a drink, but the other label is no longer good. This makes me think of the term “high priest” used in the Bible. Throughout the years, there have been several men known as high priests, but one Man, Jesus, is the Perfect High Priest. Same label, somewhat similar content, VERY different effect and duration.

In addition to this, it matters who is doing the labeling. In reading through Hebrews tonight, I was struck by the language used to label 1)Christ and 2)those who follow Him. God, Himself, calls Jesus “God”. This is incredible! I mean, I believe in the triune God, and I’ve grown up in church and heard that all my life, but tonight it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is one man—Jesus. Some people labeled Him a liar. They made fun of Him, mocked Him, labeled Him worthless, really. God, however, labeled Him “God”. Incredible! What does it matter what others label me? My identity is found in Christ and how He labels me. That brings me to how those who follow Christ are labeled in Hebrews. Chapter 3 calls us “holy brethren”. Hello! First of all, holy. Without blemish. Like God. Second, brethren. Brothers of Christ. “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father…” (Hb 2:11) Now, that, is an honorable calling! Father, may I find my worth in You alone.