Labels and Lies

When you go grocery shopping, if you’re anything like me, you read just about every word on every food item that you buy, and on lots of food items that you don’t buy (because how else are you going to know that you don’t want it?!).  In other words, you judge your food by the labels assigned to it.  Now, this is good when we’re talking about food, because it’s good to know what you’re putting into your body and make educated choices on what to buy.  However, the practice of label reading has made its way over into our social and personal lives, and it is definitely not a good thing.

There are so many labels that we not only allow society to put on us, but that we also put on ourselves.  Some people think of it as “finding a group that you belong to,” or “finding people just like you,” but I call it “limiting the ways in which you see yourself and allow the world to see you.”  There are so many seemingly innocent labels that shape us into how we are, what is acceptable for us to do or not do, who we talk to, how we dress, what we think we are capable of, and how we live our lives.  We are introverts, extroverts, too skinny, too fat, too tall, too short, hyperactive, sensitive, prone to accidents, hipsters, gamers, musicians, artists, losers, preppy, goth, punk, hippies, sad, happy, old, young, writers, uptight, scared, intuitive, smart, dumb, creative, deadbeat, and oh so much more.  Or are we?

You may have read that list and thought “Yeah, I am some of those things, but it’s true!  That’s just who I am and that’s okay.”  That mentality is your problem.  It’s everyone’s problem.

There are all these little tests out there that I see people taking all the time.  What’s your personality type?  Are you more introverted or extroverted?  Who’s your perfect guy/girl?  What’s your dream job? They’re meant for fun, sometimes they’re meant to educate people on why they might feel how they feel sometimes, or even to help people figure out what they want, but all they’re really doing is putting people in boxes.  And there are all kinds of articles like “10 Things Introverts Want You to Know but Won’t Tell You,” “How Extroverts See the World Differently,” etc. etc. etc.  It makes people think “oh yeah, I’m an introvert, so when I don’t ever talk to people and just binge watch Netflix every day of my life, that’s normal and okay,” or “I’m not overbearing, I’m just an extrovert and when I yell at people for being stupid and they don’t like it, it’s just because they really are stupid and they can’t handle who I am as a person.”  This is wrong.  We need to stop telling people how to feel.

I realize that this kind of thing can occasionally give someone a feeling of belonging or validity when they find out that someone else has the same idiosyncrasies that they do, and that’s great.  But everyone is different.  Just because a group of people have a few things in common doesn’t mean that they all operate on the same frequency.  Each of us is a unique, special design created by the Almighty who has a specific plan for each and every one of His creations (Psalm 139:13-16).  There is no one else in the entire world that is just like you.  Yes, we all find people with characteristics that we share, and that can be fun, but we should never let it define us.  The second that we start to shape ourselves, we are stepping away from letting God shape us.  This is why, as believers, we often feel like we don’t fit into society because of our beliefs and convictions.  It’s because we don’t!  No one does!  In fact, we are told not to fit in.  In Leviticus 20:26, God days “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”  The Hebrew word for holy is kadosh, which means set apart.  God commands us to be set apart and different.  He has separated us from everyone else so we can be His.  In Romans 12:2 we are told not to be “conformed to this world.”  I think that can also mean not to let ourselves be conformed to the labels that this world puts on us. 

The next time the world tries to tell you who you are, just remember that the only thing you are that truly matters is a child of God.  You are not a slave to this world or what it wants to call you.  You are not confined by the categories that you fall into, you are free to be whoever God intends for you to be, and He is the only One who actually knows what and who that is.  Only if you let Him shape you will you ever reach your full potential.  Let Him show you your talents and how to use them to His glory.  Don’t get trapped into thinking that you need to act a certain way because that’s what “people like you” do.  Let God guide you with His Word and His Holy Spirit.

Wake up and be aware of what’s going on around you.

Let go of the ways of this world. 

Learn to be strong and courageous.

Let God show you who you are.   

But let your identity not be found in who you are, but in Whose you are.