Labels
Ever paid more for something than someone else did for the exact same product?
It’s a well known fact that some manufacturers produce the identical product but slap different labels on each one. Hence a box of macaroni and cheese may be cheaper at one store than the same product in a different box at another. Your shirt purchased at a big box retailer may be the same one that you find your best friend wearing … only they purchased theirs at the Hoity-Toity store in the high rent district for three times the price you paid.
Major manufactures can make some extra money selling the same product to less ostentatious retailers because they do so without the cost of advertising that goes along with their ‘front name’ products.
This seems to satisfy everyone. Those seeking a bargain can do so and end up with quality and those who derive as much satisfaction from the label as they do the product get both recognition and quality. Both appear satisfied with the results.
There’s no harm done in this ‘tiered’ manufacturing practice.
But when we put labels on people we get it all wrong. Fundamentally wrong. Disgracefully wrong. Totally wrong by the standards of heaven’s “Labeling Department.”
We have all been made in the image of Almighty God. And since we’re cut from the same mold, our value has been eternally established. We know that God makes no junk!
- Labeling the homeless woman in the parking lot of Wal Mart as a ‘loser’ causes us to miss the label God has placed on her. He calls her precious. Same Manufacturer … different labels.
- Calling an antagonist ‘worthless’ misses God’s assessment by miles. He has deemed them ‘worth dying for.’ Same Manufacturer … different labels.
- That wayward teen gets the label ‘meritless’ while God’s designation reads ‘priceless and esteemed.’ Same Manufacturer … different labels.
- Our culture says ‘ordinary’ … God says ‘extraordinary.’ Same Manufacturer … different labels.
- We scarcely notice someone and pronounce them ‘forgettable’ … God’s assessment, “I can’t get them out of my mind.”
When God asked his prophet Samuel to find a king for his people, Samuel looked at Eliab’s label. It read “Charismatic and Comely.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7 New Living Bible. But then he noticed the family runt … David. His label read “Small and Soft-hearted” and God said, “Anoint him.”
This week ask God to help you look beyond obvious labels. See those around you through his eyes.
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