Imagine sitting across from yourself.
How would you describe yourself? (Tall, round, minimalist, feminist, high maintenance…)
What attributes define you? (Funny, smart, kind, calculated, free-spirit…)
What other labels do you wear? (Christian, Buddhist, Free thinker, American, Progressive, Republican…)
When you think about these labels and descriptions attached to you, do you feel proud or shame?
Think about it…
Now imagine yourself free of all the guilt & shame, worry & doubt.
Imagine yourself free of sin.
Who are you now? How would you describe yourself?
Would the labels fall off; would they change?
It’s hard to recognize myself without my hurts and fears and insecurity. Those things are a part of who I am. Who am I without sin and struggle? The hurt gives me fuel. The fear gives me an excuse. The insecurity gives me a twisted sense of identity that has enough truth to hold on to the lies.
I don’t know myself any other way. I can’t see myself any other way.
But what if we allow God to define us? What if we allow the very One who created us, who knows us, who redeemed us, to define who we are? What if we let Him put the labels on us? I have a feeling He doesn’t use the labels we do.
Can we let go of our labels? Do we dare replace them? It’s scary isn’t it?
If we do, we’re left feeling lost, unsure of who we really are without the anxiety. Who are we without our past? Like the woman caught in adultery those labels become our identity. And for the rest of human history that is what you are known as- not who you are, but what you did. But sometimes it’s hard to let go. Even the bad ones make us feel like somebody. And we’d rather stay a broken somebody than be a nobody.
Created by God, Creator of the universe. Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. Child of the Most High God. Adopted into God’s family.
If you believe, if you have faith, you can trade in those other labels for some labels that will change your identity, give you value and purpose, and set you free from the life of guilt and shame and fear and insecurity.
Are they enough?