We watched an episode of Dr. Phil earlier this year and it was about the labeling of people. As we watched the show it really hit me hard as I look at some of the things I have thought in the past. WOW, I truly have labeled people without even realizing it and the crazy part is I do NOT like to be labeled. Part 1 of this blog will talk about labels you put on other people and part two will be about labels you put on yourself.
Don’t we all kind of do this? No matter who you are you label other people. We are all guilty of this and it is something that we all should strive to work on. The worst thing you can do is put a label on someone and it isn’t even true. In reality, any label you put on someone, it is not true because that isn’t what God called us to do and that label is not who God called them to be.
The only label I want to be known for is to be a Christ Follower. That label I will wear anytime but I have been labeled many things because of my dreams. I have also been labeled because of my past. I have been labeled for all sorts of things.
Do you ever look at someone who dresses in a way you think is inappropriate and question why they do it? I believe this may be one of the quickest labels that we put on people. It is what they wear or how they look. We judge them harshly. Have you ever met someone who dressed how you think is wrong and then talked with them to realize that you were way off on who they were? Yes I have too and I believe if we are all going to be honest, we have all done that at least to a degree.
I have misjudged people in my life based on what they look like. I am ashamed to be able to say that but it is the truth. I have worked on that and I have changed a lot of that over the last year or two.
The church is really bad with labels too. I believe it is one of the main reasons we see people not going to church. They feel why should they go when all the people do in church is judge them. You know what? In most cases they are exactly right. It is time that we welcome people no matter who they are into our churches with open arms. How do you expect to bring them to Christ if you won’t love on them in the first place?
Do you realize that if we did that, we would change the world almost overnight? I am not saying this is the answer to everything but it is a huge problem in our churches and in our society.
I can remember growing up, I didn’t fit into any group. I didn’t study so I was not welcomed around the smart people. I wasn’t athletic so I wasn’t welcomed around athletes. I wasn’t preppy so I wasn’t welcomed around the popular people. I was just me so I become a loner in high school with the exception of a few friends.
I do thank God that from time to time there were people in my life that took me under their wings and helped me when people tried to bully me. I didn’t have that every time but there were times when I had people who did stand up for me.
I know many people in high school didn’t have that and they are either bullied all the time or put down from people who feel they are different. Heck, being a Christian puts a mark on your back too in our society. Granted I didn’t have that label when I was in high school as I didn’t grow up in church like some people.
As I watch our society change, it scares me where we are going. Here it is many years later and it doesn’t look like our society has become more accepting of people but actually people seem less accepting as our society grows.
There are more clicks than ever before. People want to be around others who think just like them so we all become so segregated. Granted, I understand why we want to be around others who think like us and there is nothing wrong with that until it gets to the point where that is the ONLY people you are around.
We can’t grow as people and as a culture if all we are around is people like us. In order to learn how others live we should be open to meeting and talking with people of all walks of life. If more people did this they would realize that in reality we are all pretty much alike.
We all want the same things in life. We all want acceptance. We all want people to like us. We all want to do something great in our lives. We just all go about it in different ways.
Let me make one thing clear though, I am not saying that you should accept someone’s behavior who is out of line with God’s truth because then we can get into really big trouble as a society and say anything goes. I am not talking about that. Remember, you can love people even if you don’t agree with their behavior. What I am talking about is getting to know people who are different even if you disagree with their lifestyle. Your world will be Blessed if you will do this.
I have met some really cool people over the years who I would have never thought like that about if I would have judged how they looked. There have been many times I walk away from someone who I just had a conversation with and say WOW, I didn’t expect that. They have lived a very interesting life.
There are many times when I am glad that I left my labels for someone at home so that I could get to know the real person. See until you walk a mile in their shoes, you really do not understand and can’t understand why they do what they do.
Many of the people you put labels on have grown up in situations that you can’t even comprehend. Until you start getting to know people who are different than you, you can never really understand where they are coming from and you will always label them.
I hope you will take what I have said to heart and stop labeling people. There are so many more things on this issue that I could talk about and maybe will write about in a future blog but I believe this blog post is long enough so I will let you chew on that for a while. My next blog will be about labels that you out on yourself. I believe this is a huge issue that needs to be talked about.
Ask God to heal your heart so that you can take labels away from people. Ask God to help you accept people as people and to get to know them. Ask God to give you the courage to get to know many different people so that you can see people in a different manner. Ask God to give you the wisdom to know when you are labeling someone in a manner that is just not good for God’s people.
Be Inspired or Be Left Behind!
Chris Benton