Everywhere you look you can find things with labels on them. Do not dry clean, Made out of man made materials, or May contain nuts to name a few. Like the labels on these items, many of us can see the labels attached on our lives.
Growing up you may have heard – “that’s right you know it all,” that really told you that you don’t know anything. How about the statement – “you will never amount to anything” or “you were always a lazy child” telling you that you will never get anywhere in life. While trying to build a career Barbara Streisand heard this statement from her very own mother. Some of the simplest statements can also cause harm like “you are just a girl let the a man do it” which says as a female you are incapable of accomplishing that goal so don’t even try.
We can be our own worst enemy when it comes to labeling. Have you ever said, “I could never do that”, “No one would ever want me”, “I never do anything right? A common one heard by children and adults is “I am so stupid.” We could go on and on seeing labels that people have tried to put on themselves or others but they are not the labels that God has given you. His labels include, winner, chosen, redeemed. In Ephesians 1:5, it says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” How good is that? He decided to adopt us knowing what we would be like and when he did it didn’t just make him a little happy but the word says it gave him GREAT pleasure.