EXCHANGING LABELS
Kendra Intihar
Today’s Scripture: “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26 (NLT)
Theme: We are who God says we are.
WALKING AND CHEWING GUM
Have you ever heard the expression, “They can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?” It’s an idiom meant to imply that the person referenced is not very bright. Recently, someone who has known me since childhood reminded me that people said that about me all the time when I was little. She seemed astonished that I had broken free from that typecast as an adult. I was a straight A student, but even people who loved me called me an airhead. I was in the gifted program my entire school career, but people who loved me called me a distracted daydreamer. In high school, I was president of several clubs, worked a part-time job, and was captain of two separate teams, but people who loved me called me lazy. I was a dancer from the time I was two years old all the way through high school, but people who loved me called me uncoordinated. Everyone in my family sought me out to tell me blonde jokes because I was their ultimate example of a dumb blonde. Imagining you’re a gifted idiot is quite a way to grow up.
I embraced my reputation for empty headedness for many years because I figured that’s just who I was. It was very strange to me when, in college, people didn’t immediately think I was a “ditz” or a “dumb blonde.” I have since learned that I had developed strategies for masking the parts of me that came across as “distracted” and “day-dreamy.” I had learned to set timers for tasks and projects. I had learned to give myself small rewards and breaks for completing a task. I had learned to make paper-and-pencil lists to remove my task list from my head and put it somewhere tangible. I had learned to advocate for myself and ask for reasonable accommodations in class, like being allowed to chew gum (for concentration) and sitting in the front row. I taught myself to quietly flip my pen around my knuckles instead of clicking it incessantly. For many of you, these strategies sound familiar, and you know where this story is going…
A NEW LABEL
At the age of 39, I was diagnosed with ADHD. As a child – and especially as a female – no one would’ve ever thought to seek an ADHD diagnosis for me. In my family, we had a firmly held belief that ADHD didn’t exist, and that any symptoms thereof were the result of poor parenting. In fact, I avoided a diagnosis for a very long time after I began suspecting it because I didn’t want what I felt was a “trendy” or “make-believe” diagnosis. I’m so thankful that I know now why my brain wouldn’t behave like everyone else’s when I was little. Since finally being assessed, I have been able to peel off so many hurtful labels:
Airhead
Ditz
Dumb Blonde
Clumsy
Flighty
Lazy
I am learning that if my family and I had known more about my brain, those labels would have never defined me. I would’ve had the tools and strategies to keep myself focused and organized, and people would’ve seen me for who I actually was: A smart kid. A capable kid. A kid who did her best with the brain God gave her. Being properly “labeled” for the first time in my life helped me shed all the false labels I thought defined me.
DEFINED BY CHRIST
I think we all feel unfairly defined by labels from time to time. Labels like: Defined by your past. Unloved. Alone. Imperfect. Unhappy. Incapable. Self-centered. Selfish. Sinful. Unforgiven. In Christ, those harmful labels can be peeled away. We are not who others say we are. We are who God says we are. Being properly labeled in Christ helps us all shed false labels about ourselves. How does God label you?
God calls you beloved. (Colossians 3:12)
He calls you chosen. (Ephesians 1:4)
He calls you His child. (John 1:12)
He calls you redeemed. (Titus 2:14)
He calls you alive. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
He calls you His handiwork. (Ephesians 2:10)
He calls you an heir. (Romans 8:17)
He calls you a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
He calls you a friend. (John 15:15)
He calls you justified. (Romans 3:24)
He calls you His righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He calls you forgiven. (Colossians 3:13)
He calls you free. (Galatians 5:1)
You are chosen, and beloved, and FREE, brothers and sisters. Jesus sees us for who we truly are and for who we are becoming in Him. In Christ, we can peel away the labels that burden and hurt us. We can exchange them for the ones that were meant for us all along.
Make it Personal: We all carry labels that feel hurtful. There is good news in the Good News, though, friends. No matter how others define us, God sees us for who we really are. He sees the unvarnished version of us, even when we (or others) can’t see it. He sees us as whole and His, and His desire is to show us who we are in Him. Re-read the labels God has given you in the section above and let yourself rest in the ones that you need to hear the most today.
Pray: Lord, I can’t handle these hurtful labels anymore: the ones I’ve given myself, the ones others have given me. They’re too heavy. You have said that Your burden is light. I am asking You today to trade my heavy labels for Your light ones. Show me what the freedom of belovedness feels like. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Galatians 5:1
Weekly Memory Verse: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b, ESV