Recently, our pastor was teaching us about Psalm 130. This Psalm is about crying out from the depths of our despair. We've all been in the depths of despair, which is not a fun place to be. The Psalmist teaches us that when we cry out in our despair the Lord hears us and the Lord keeps no record of our past sins. I find that to be one of the most humbling parts about Scripture. It teaches us repeatedly that the Lord keeps no record of wrongs. No record? Seriously? WOW! We would all be better off in all of our relationships if we kept no record of wrongs. How often do we ourselves keep ahold of something that someone has said or done to us and we keep a tally mark against that person in our heads? Or worse yet, how often do we sin against someone and we can't let go of what we have done. We become wracked with guilt. We own it. We wear it. We wallow in it. Even after we have asked for forgiveness from the Lord and if applicable, from the person we sinned against? Scripture teaches us that there is no record kept of these wrongs.
The Pastor made his point by telling us about dogs. He says the old tale is if a dog kills one of your chickens you better kill the dog because once he's had a taste of blood he'll never stop killing chickens. Another old tale says that if the dog kills a chicken, tie the dead chicken to the dog's neck until the chicken stinks and is worn off and that will break the dog from killing chickens. That sounds harsh and cruel but how often do we as humans tie ourselves up with old sin or an old label that someone has given us? Did you create our own label or did someone give it to you when you were young and you haven't broken free of it yet? Useless. Ugly. Fat. Worthless. Drunk. Liar. Thief. Murderer. Adulterer. Reject. Loser. No Good. Misfit. Stupid. Just as the dog can't take the chicken off of it's neck, we can't seem to rid ourselves of the labels we carry. The Lord can if we let him. The Bible says in Genesis 1:27 "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." We don't think of God as useless, fat, worthless, drunk, liar, thief, murderer, loser, or (insert the label you wear here) and if we have confessed our sins God has forgiven us for them and we no longer carry the label of sin. Romans 6:6 says "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— " If it's a label that describes our self worth (fat, ugly, worthless, loser, etc.) think back to where you got that label. Who gave you that label? Did you give it to yourself? Or did someone else? Why do you still carry the label? I'm asking myself this question as much as I am asking you. I carry a label on myself and I've tried to get rid of that label. But it's hard. Oh so hard. I've carried it for so long that it's become engrained in my brain, in the very fiber of my being. I know where and when I got the label. What I can't wrap my mind around yet is why I can't seem to let it go. I've wrestled with it for years. I know that God doesn't make junk. We are made in his image. The labels we carry around with us stink just as the dead chicken on the dogs' neck stinks. They are probably not words that God would ever use to describe us. He would use words like lovely, chosen, set apart and loved. We are his children. The label we have worn for years wears us down and keep us from being all we were created to be. Let's focus our eyes on the one who gives us labels like loved, chosen, lovely. Those are the labels we need to carry with us and get rid of the stinky labels that wear us down and make us feel bad. Let's let God label us and shake off any labels that he would not use to describe us.
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