By: Zeke

Have you ever been watching a video or reading an article about a celebrity and you learn that they had some interaction with a fan where they treated them rudely or an actor was a jerk on set? What was your view of that celebrity after that? Typically what happens is it becomes more than just “they were a jerk”. It becomes “they are a jerk”. It becomes part of their identity.

As humans we often give people labels or generalize people based on limited interaction or sometimes no interaction at all. The only thing we use to base our opinion of someone on is the emotions they presented in a specific scenario. And instead of that being something they did, in our minds it is who they are.

Bringing it down to more realistic examples, because celebrities’ public images are changed and flipped all the time. Maybe that one quiet kid at school is labeled as depressed or lonely and people just don’t talk to them much. Eventually that kid, who might have been going through something for a time, now has this identity as the quiet kid. It becomes much harder to shake the idea for them that they aren’t just that, even though there is more to them. They now have to wrestle with the identity that has been given to them. Often times, it is easy for them to now live out of that identity because it is comfortable, so even if they wanted to be more outgoing or they wanted to change how they act, they don’t just have to change their perception from their peers, but they also have to break out of the identity that they believe about themselves.

In many ways, the way we carry ourselves and the emotions that we portray to our peers becomes more than just what we do; it becomes who we are. I’m the guy who is angry, impatient, joker, fake, loud, quiet, shy, mean, uptight, clown, stupid, lazy, rough around the edges, etc. We start to believe these names that have been given to us, or that we have given ourselves, and we become them. Even if deep down we know they aren’t true, we allow ourselves to live out of them to the point that we don’t even know they aren’t the truth anymore.

We live in a world filled with labels and assumptions. Everyone is labeled differently to different people based on what they’ve done, how they acted even if for just a moment, and the emotions that they show to the world. We all do it and in many ways it is human nature that we label people based on what we have seen of them. But what if it was you that was the quiet kid? Would you want to be labeled as the sad, depressed, lonely kid? Or would you know there is more to you than just that? How long would it take before you started to believe that maybe they were right and that is just who you are?

It’s easy to look at these examples from the outside, but what about you? What labels have you been given that you can’t seem to shake? Or even deeper, what labels have you given yourself?

In a lot of ways it can start to feel hopeless, but did you know that God has given us labels of his own? God tells us many many times who we are to him and the identity that we are given. And this isn’t just some kids at school or your family telling you who or what you are, it is the God of the universe himself giving us our identity. God has told us time and again that we are more than our emotions, we are more than what people say we are, and most importantly we are more than what we say we are. 

Our identity in him is not dependent on us at all. It doesn’t matter how much we mess up or how much we run from it, our identity in God remains firm and unmoving.

So no matter what emotion may run us for a time, or what we have done in the past, we have assurance in who we are in Christ. True hope and peace is only found when we can start to rest in the promises that God has given us.

Challenge:

• Identify three labels/ emotions that you have allowed to become your identity.
• For each one, find a different scripture that tells you who God says you are instead.

Question:

How do these compare? 

How can you better live out of what God says rather than what you and those around you say?