To Label Me...

Soren Kierkegaard said, "To label me is to negate me".  As we define someone, we disregard the fullness of that person's potential to be so many other things.

I think it goes beyond even that -- "to label me is to potentially block me from receiving the richness of God's goodness!"  If you call me "learning disabled" or "diabetic" or "homeless" or "Baptist", and if I buy into that label as who I am -- a name tag that I must identify with -- then I am less able to believe I am also "brilliant", "healthy", "connected", or "in love with Jesus"

I am not saying that to be diabetic, for example, is an illusion.  True, the lab reports show that your body is not functioning as it should and something needs to be done about it before more harm is done to your body.  But that is not who you are.

To say you are "an addict" has a deep, alienating impact on your soul.  True, at this moment you may be struggling with your dependency on a substance or a person or a position.  Something needs to be done about it.  You need a place to go where you are loved and cared for -- where people connect with you on a deep, meaningful level.  You also need to give up your dependency, but to do it in a vacuum, without the belief that anything of value will take its place leaves you with a hole inside of you that can't be filled.  If you believe you are "an addict", then you are "an addict".  When will it ever end unless you say, "I am not an addict any longer." ?

The more you buy into your label, the harder it will be to achieve the very connection you require for your healing. 

Last night I watched a transformation take place at my Table Church, where I go every Friday night  to meet God and a bunch of people with all kinds of minimizing labels, according to the world. 

I watched a man who could be labeled "recently released inmate" or "homeless person"    restored to his dignity as a child of the King of Glory.  I watched him become filled with the knowledge that he is a family member, that God has a plan for him, that he is worthy of being called "son".

You should have seen his face light up.  You should have seen the shoulder slump rise.  You should have seen him pray over another brother who needed help and comfort.

"Son" "Beloved" "Brother" -- now, if you have to live with a label...