RED BULLS EYE STORE

I've recently discovered the exciting new world of online shopping.  Visiting the online store of one of my favorite places (for the sake of not giving away their true name we’ll just refer to them as the Red Bulls Eye Store), I found a real treasure: a REVERSIBLE SWEATER!  That’s right!  Gray on one side and flip it inside out and now you've got a light gray sweater. Two sweaters in one. I had to have it. It was the closest I'd come to owning my own Transformer. I imagined the perfect scenarios where such an awesome sweater would come in handy:  Being chased on foot by the police (not that this happens often or ever), ducking behind a corner and turning my sweater inside out. Instantly I'm a different person:

“Did you see a guy in a gray sweater run through here?”

“Sorry officer. Only saw this guy in a light gray sweater.”

“No that couldn't have been him.  We lost him.”

Well, I finally received my package, frantically tearing into it. I reached into the bag and pulled out my Transformer sweater only it wasn’t a sweater at all.  The great people at Red Bulls Eye Store sent me a pack of ladies underwear instead. What in the world!? Disappointment is an understatement.  Upon further investigation I noticed a rather large label on the front of the ladies underwear pack that said: GRAY REVERSIBLE SWEATER. 

Labels are powerful things.

 

We believe lies about ourselves that can literally affect how we live as well as the decisions we make.  Perry Nobel put it this way:  Labels lock us in and lock God out. 

Let me ask you:  Has someone falsely branded you?  Have their harsh words been seared onto the surface of your heart and caused you to believe that you’re less than you truly are?  Some of us are stuck in a label whether self-inflicted or the result of someone else’s doing.    

GOD, your Creator is the only one who has the right to label what He’s made.  If you are IN CHRIST this is what’s true about you:

• YOU are a child of God (John 1:12)
• YOU have been justified and redeemed (Romans 3:24)
• YOUR old self was crucified with Christ, and YOU are no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:6)
• YOU will not be condemned by God (Romans 8:1)
• YOU have been accepted by Christ (Romans 15:7)
• In Christ Jesus, YOU have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30)
• YOUR body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in YOU (1 Corinthians 6:19)
• YOUR a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• YOUR no longer a slave, but a child and an heir (Galatians 4:7)
• YOUR God’s workmanship created to produce good works (Ephesians 2:10)

QUESTION: 

How would our lives look if we actually received and believed God’s labels?