Labels

Have you ever noticed that everything has a label? When you buy a piece of clothing there is a price tag, size label, and a washing label. We label electronics, cars, sporting equipment, and just about everything else we buy, sell and trade. We also like to slap labels on people:

• Nerd
• Gay
• Liberal
• Conservative
• Hot
• Not hot
• Jock

You get the point. We could go on and on forever.

We do that in the Church as well. Most Church Folk have PhD's in labeling. We are as good as this label maker, the PT-1500 from Brothers (this is not an endorsement):
We slap labels on everyone. As Mike Warnke (I know all about his past) said, "If we don't like the label they have, we try to cover it up with ours."

We label in generalities: Christian or non-Christian. Then within the Christian circles, we have: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. Then we break down even further. Within Protestant circles we have "mainline" (usually read "liberal") and evangelical (usually read "conservative"). We have Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Nazarene, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Church of God, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Fundamentalist, and on and on and on.... (I am deeply sorry if I neglected to mention anyone's label.)

We rarely extend the hand of fellowship to anyone who doesn't wear our label, and when we do, it's only grudgingly. I guess labels allow us to feel morally superior to someone with a different label.

Let's quit labeling everything and everyone, and be about communicating the love that God has for all humanity (regardless of what label they wear).