People Label, But God Names

​One of the greatest consequences of losing our connection to God is replacing it with a stronger connection to our labels.

Labels other people assign us.

Labels we assign ourselves.

God never labels, God names. God names us son or daughter. God names us according to the unique gifts he has given each of us.

If I truly listen to God call me, he will call me son, writer, compassionate, healer.

But when I grow distant from God, and there have been periods in my life when I have kept God at a great distance - there are days I still permit that distance - but when there is that distance, the labels I replace my names with are often much uglier.

They often sound like quitter, drunk, wasteful, divorcer, irresponsible, underachiever.

You get the picture.

And when it comes to my faith, my connection to God, it’s a vicious circle. I allow labels to sneak into my life because I allow distance in my relationship with God, and then it’s the labels that make me question why God would want anything BUT distance between me and him.

So the distance grows greater.

It's why I know labels are from the devil, the enemy, the dark side of life – however you choose to label that part of nature. Because what greater weapon could an enemy of God have than to convince us that God sees us as we often label us?

What greater weapon could the enemy have than to convince us that God actually sees us as the people around us label us?

I want to caution you against labels. Print them if you must. Stare at them. But don’t for a second even think about slapping them on you. You are a package that God has lovingly named: son, daughter, gifted. You are worthy of so much more than a label.

God doesn't even see the labels we attach to ourselves or permit others to attach to us. God sees right through them and wants to love away the hurt and hopelessness and depression that often comes with those labels.

God sees right through the labels and shouts our names.

The names he has given us.

God longs to destroy our connection to our labels and strengthen our connection with him.

That happens best when we listen to our names and not assign ourselves labels.

Print them if you must. But please, don't attach them.