LABLES

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

 

She came in just like so many.  She was looking for some direction, some help.  She was just released after more than a year in prison.  She was homeless and not sure what the “next step” should be.  She was clear as to where she “wanted” to go and what she “wanted” to do, but getting started seemed a little daunting; to many “labels” she thought.

 

Labels like:

 

Felon, criminal, failure, homeless, risky, and shady.

 

Yet as we unpacked her story and peeled back some of the layers I saw a mom who had made some mistakes.  She had paid for them.  She had given what society demanded and for all accounts had done well by her family in spite of the challenging circumstances.  She was merely looking for a new start, a clean slate a new sheet of paper with which to write the next chapter.

 

And she really wanted to start shedding the “labels”.

 

 

I was so glad to be able to offer that to her!

 

I shared with her the amazing truth about GOD’s grace, His new mercy, and the gift of a clean slate and a new set of labels for those who are ready to accept Him!

 

I told her that even though society would try to continue to label her damaged goods; a felon and as a risk to others; a failure, the Lord had some new labels for her.

 

Galatians 3:26

 

For now we are all (her included) children of God through faith in Jesus Christ,

 

1 Peter 2:10

 

But you (and her) are the ones CHOSEN BY GOD…God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

 

That passage from 1 Peter hit the nail right on the head for her.  She liked that “CHOSEN BY GOD” label for sure. 

 

And we should too; for while many of us may not carry the difficult label of felon or thief, we all do carry the label of sinner.  And as sinners we were destined for death. 

 

Yet GOD, through Christ, has opted to change that label from condemned to consecrated, from lost to found, from doomed to saved, from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

 

And that is wonderful news is it not?  

Some amazing truth? An astounding promise?

 

I know it was for my new friend yesterday. 

 

For in that promise, in that “re-labeling”, she discovered a new hope, new possibilities and new inspiration!  She could see that GOD was ready to re-birth her into something filled with potential and opportunity and He was ready to change those labels.

 

John 1:12

 

But for all who… (receive) and trust in Him, He (gives) them the right to be reborn as children of God

 

Sometimes it is easy to allow the world to stick us with its labels.  Don’t let it!

 

GOD has already labeled us as HIS own, His heirs, His friends, and His children!  

Just look.

 

Romans 8:12 (V)

…The Father reaches out through His Son to all those orphaned by sin and death, and He brings them into His family. We are adopted into His forever family and fully enfranchised as His heirs.

So, my brothers and sisters, you owe the flesh nothing! You do not need to live according to its ways…

 

…or its labels either!

 

 

 

Have a blessed weekend.

 

I love you all!

Freedom Church

 

 

 

Pastor GDelaney