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<\/a><\/p>\nWe all use labels to some degree.<\/p>\n
Like it or not, we live in a culture that uses labels to help us identify things. Sometimes this can be very helpful\u2013 as we navigate the world we live in, labels often provide us a cursory way to navigate the landscape.<\/p>\n
However, when it comes to Christian labels, there\u2019s a real danger that we should all be aware of: judging.<\/p>\n
The sinful desire to judge others is at the heart and soul of a fallen human condition, because none of us are able to justly and correctly judge someone else. However, like any habit, we have a difficult time breaking ourselves from it.<\/p>\n
And so, we judge.<\/p>\n
We determine who is in and who is out. Who is good, and who is evil. Who is worthy of our self-sacrificial love, and who is not.<\/p>\n
If not bad enough to judge people we actually do<\/em> know, we often judge people we do not<\/em> know\u2013 and we use labels to do it. Instead of a navigational tool, a Christian label becomes a way to determine who is in and who is out. Who is good and who is evil. Who is worthy of our self-sacrificial love, and who is not.<\/p>\nA human being, made in the image and likeness of God\u2013 and who is loved so much that Christ died for them\u2013 is reduced, judged, and dismissed on the basis of a single word.<\/p>\n
On any given day I may be on the giving end<\/em> of this type of judging, or on the receiving end<\/em>\u2014 as are you<\/em>. Such is the overwhelming power of the desire to judge others.<\/p>\nThe biblical prohibition on judging exists because that is singularly God\u2019s job, and he will do it not by judging by external matters, but by judging what is unseen\u2013 the heart<\/em> (1 Sam 16:7). The content of an individual\u2019s heart is something we are not able to see and therefore arrive at a boundary marker that is off limits except to God himself.<\/p>\nNow, if one were to kick God off his judgement seat and take over, you\u2019d hope that such a person would at least try to do his job well\u2026 but we do not.<\/p>\n
Instead of attempting to search\u00a0the heart as only<\/em> God can do, we so often take a word, assign it our own meaning, and then pronounce swift condemnation of another image bearer. Often, we do this in the span of a few seconds.<\/p>\nAnd this is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of using a word\u2013 a label\u2013 to judge someone else: it\u2019s a horrible tool at doing the job.<\/p>\n
I hope if we\u2019ve learned anything over the past few day\u2019s discussions it\u2019s been that labels (especially Christian labels) have very little worth, because we each define them differently\u2013 causing them to\u00a0tell one so little<\/em> about a person.<\/p>\nI\u2019ve had people write me before and tell me that I was going to hell. When I\u2019ve asked why, they\u2019ve replied it is because I am a \u201cProgressive Christian\u201d and that this is incompatible with Christianity. A broad label that can be used to mean so much (or so little), is used to reduce me, judge me, and condemn me to hell.<\/p>\n
But I see this same judgement flowing in the reverse<\/em> as well. Statements such as \u201cperson X is _____ (insert judgement) because they are an \u201cEvangelical,\u201d a \u201cFundamentalist,\u201d or fill in the blank with whatever label you want. The arrow of judgement based on functionally inadequate<\/em> Christian labels is an arrow that flies\u00a0in every<\/em> direction.<\/p>\nPeople. Human beings. Bearers of the divine image of God\u2026<\/p>\n
Reduced and judged by labels that are often so fluid, they\u2019re relatively worthless.<\/p>\n
The sinful desire to judge others isn\u2019t something that only fundamentalists do\u2026 it\u2019s part of the human condition and something we are all quietly addicted to in our own subtle, and sometimes less than subtle ways, whether we\u2019re willing to confess it or not.<\/p>\n
And so, my prayer for us\u2013\u00a0including myself who is the worst of all sinners<\/em>\u2014 is that when we see a person and begin to feel the string to our bow pulling back to let judgement\u2019s arrow fly, we\u2019ll remember how functionally worthless a Christian label is when used to judge what only God can judge\u2013 the human heart.<\/p>\nInstead, may we\u00a0resist the powerful urge to determine who is good and who is evil, who is in and who is out, and who is worthy of our self-sacrificial love and who is not, on the basis of a label. Instead, may we strive to see them\u2013 as difficult as it may be at times\u2013 the way God sees them.<\/p>\n
As someone\u00a0who was created in his image and likeness.<\/p>\n
As someone\u00a0who is loved beyond our comprehension.<\/p>\n
As someone\u00a0Christ gave his life for.<\/p>\n
As a someone\u00a0who is far, far, more than a simple and functionally inadequate \u201cChristian\u00a0<\/em>label.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We all use labels to some degree. Like it or not, we live in a culture that uses labels to help us identify things. Sometimes this can be very helpful\u2013 as we navigate the world we live in, labels often provide us a cursory way to navigate the landscape. However, when it comes to Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1638,"featured_media":10464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[402,99],"class_list":["post-10463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-culture","tag-judging","tag-labels"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n