Wrong Label

Labels are for cans of food. Labels are for items of clothing. Labels are NOT for people.

They shouldn’t be…that is.

Romans 2:3 ~ Do you suppose, O man —- you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself —- that you will escape the judgement of God?

Hmmm. OUCH.

So…. we are all guilty? Maybe? Definitely?

GUILTY.

 

Psalm 9:7,8 ~ But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the people with uprightness.

 

See, GOD…HE judges out of LOVE. He is not capable of using labels on people…judging people from outside appearances. Unlike most of the human population. Myself included.

Our Lord looks at our heart. So why don’t we look at the heart first?

 

1 Samuel 16:7 ~ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

 

Maybe you aren’t a judgmental person…..anymore. Maybe you never have been.

Maybe you have been the object of judgement. And it hurt. Deeply.

I wish that one blog post could change us all. It can’t. Real change only happens when we truly want to change.

If the heart isn’t right, then the behavior won’t be right. Upright. Like God. Christ-like.

Who wants to be labeled like a can of soup?

Who are we to label others anyway?

Being labeled as a snob because you aren’t as outgoing as the person labeling you hurts. To assign a label to someone before you’ve even talked to them is wrong.

Being labeled as stuck-up because you are just not confident or comfortable making small talk… hurts.

I truly believe that to judge someone before we’ve even talked to them is dead wrong. How can we do that?

How can we truly say that someone is “preppy”. “gothic”, “redneck”, “rich”, “poor”, “saved”, “not saved”, “shy”, “scary”, without even giving that person a chance to show us their heart?

We have to give others the chance to show us who they are. We have to teach our kids this. Labels hurt…especially when we are labeled wrong.

We have all been guilty of this behavior at some point in our lives. Hopefully we chose to STOP being this way. To give people a chance to show us who they are on the inside before assuming they are some other way by the outside.

It’s so heartbreaking to hear story after story of how teens and kids will even approach other teens and kids, BOLDLY telling them what they think the other teen is like…and they have never ever spoken to this person before. All based on appearance or heresy.

I wish I could say that it gets better with time. It doesn’t. Adults judge unfairly as well.

When is it going to stop?

Good news is this: One person CAN make a difference. One person can change. One can stand up for another. One can share of the hurt judging causes. One person CAN make a difference.

Will you be that person? Will you teach your children to be THAT PERSON? Will you choose to make a difference?

Until Next Time,