A New Label
By Beth Mabe Gianopulos
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” John 4:29 NIV
We live in a world of labels. You may be known as "the pastor's wife," or perhaps you are known as "Jacob's mom".
Some of you may be described by your profession, such as, “she is my doctor" or "my lawyer." You may also be known by the roles you serve in church, "she is the Sunday School teacher."
Others that are reading this may be known by less flattering labels. You may walk around with the label that you are "a doormat" or "a flake." Perhaps you are labeled as "moody," "unpredictable," or as having "no morals."
In John 4, Jesus met a woman at a well. When Jesus spoke to the woman, he knew her deepest, darkest secrets. He knew the labels that weighed her down, yet he talked to her.
Jesus knew that she didn't have one husband, but that she had five husbands. He even knew that the man she lived with was not her current husband.
Before she met Jesus, the woman at the well was probably treated with loathing. People probably justified the way they treated her because they were treating her the way she deserved to be treated according to the labels that society had placed upon her.
But Jesus did not see a label. Jesus knew every intimate secret that she carried, but he did not judge her. Instead, Jesus offered her living water.
Jesus refused to see her as a woman defined by her past. He saw her as the woman she was created to be. Where the world saw labels based on her past, Jesus saw her future potential.
When the woman ran into town to tell others that she had met the Messiah, she did not leave burdened with heavy labels from her past. She walked away from Jesus with new labels. She walked away loved, treasured, forgiven, and transformed.
Your past may shape who you are, but your past does not define you. When you encounter Jesus, you leave transformed.
Like the woman at the well, you can lay down the past and walk away with a new label. My prayer for you is that you will put down past labels and start today with a new label, as a "treasured child of God."
Jesus, Thank You for putting aside past labels and seeing us as You created us to be. Help us forget the labels of our past and see ourselves as You see us - beautifully and wonderfully made. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
© 2017 by Beth Mabe Gianopulos. All rights reserved.
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Originally published Tuesday, 10 October 2017.
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