Labels

 By Cherie Greshko

Labeled By Others

My life has been one of many adventures. I have realized that there are many labels one could have tagged on me as a youngster and beyond. Labels like ADHD, bipolar, dyslexic, autistic, socially backwards, and a few others too painful to mention.


Labeled By God

But how does God “label” me? 

He calls me beloved, chosen, accepted, adopted, redeemed, forgiven! (see Ephesians 1). I am a Child of the King and I have royal blood flowing through my veins!

In Isaiah 43:1 He says, “...Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine.”

In Isaiah 49:16 He reminds us "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; ..."

In John 10:27-30 Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

In Psalm 139, the psalmist proclaims how infinitely precious we are to God. He knitted us together in our mother's womb and knows every detail of our life and the very words of our mouth before we even speak them. The psalmist then declares in verse 14 “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.”

How About You?

Others hear labels applied to their lives like stupid or fat or ugly or addict or alcoholic or adulterer or worthless or murderer . . .

But if you are a follower of Jesus and have surrendered your life to Him, He says No, You are Mine – You are secure in My Hand and then in the Father’s Hand – you are doubly secure. No one can ever pluck you out. We can trust Him to tell us the Truth. Isaiah 45:19 "...I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right."

We can cling to the Promise with a capital P that even if some of those things were once true – what does Paul remind us in I Corinthians 6:11? "And such WERE some of you: (emphasis mine) but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Hallelujah! We have been washed in the precious shed Blood of the Lamb. We are justified, just as if we had never sinned!

How about those labels now? Who has you tagged? The world or God? Never forget Whose you are.

Whose labels will you believe?

 

 

Cherie Greshko lives at the foothills of the North Georgia mountains.  She enjoys anything that gets her outside enjoying the Great Outdoors of God's beautiful creation such as hiking, biking, and nature photography.  Cherie loves to journal, study the Word of God, sing, and have fun too while tapping into her creative gifts from the Lord in a way that brings Him glory.