How We Took Label Reading Too Far

If you hang around me at all, it won’t take you very long ‘til you realize that I am somewhat health conscious. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m a health or fitness nut, but I try to at least maintain some level of healthy eating and exercising.

Oh yeah, and I read labels like it’s going out of style.

 I’m a huge fan of checking labels, seeing what foods are made of, if they’re good for me, etc. And I highly encourage it. Knowledge is power, and reading labels to make decisions is an incredibly useful tool.

There’s just one problem with this trend of label checking. Anyone ever notice that we do this with people too? We’ve taken label reading to a whole new level, and our culture is inundated with labeled people.

She’s the fat one.

He’s the jock.

That guy? Oh, he’s just the nerd.

She’s such a slut.

And I bet it wouldn’t take you to terribly long to come up with labels that you have been stuck with over the past years.

You’re the abused one.

You’re the goody two shoes.

You’re the ugly one.

You’re the partier.

You’re the poor one.

You’re the stuck up one.

You are...You are...You are.

And I am here to suggest for a moment that you are NOT. You are not a label. And neither is anyone else. 



Photo by Open Hands Photography.
 Design by Rachel Probasco

See, when we start labeling people, all it really is is an excuse to write them off. Because it’s hard to reach out and make relationships and maintain friendships. Keeping everyone at an arm’s length ensures that we never get hurt, so we label them. And it makes us feel better because we would never be friends with someone like that. We could never reach out to them...after all, we have our own reputations to keep up, our own images to maintain, our own labels to live up to.

And as much as I am a fan of label reading on food packaging, I am on a mission to destroy reading labels on people. I guess it’s because God never looked at me and saw a label. He didn’t see me as the ‘broken one’ or the ‘insecure one’.  He saw me as His creation. He saw me as beautiful and perfect simply because I was His, and that was enough. And because I have not been labeled by Christ, I am called not to label others. Because no one deserves to be written off because of their past. No one deserves to be ignored because of their mistakes. No one deserves to be told they’re not good enough because of x, y, and z, because they are just as valuable as you are. They are worth just as much. They are loved the same.  

So would you join me in starting to look at the people around you through the eyes of God, and not through the filter of their labels? Because, I promise you, you’re going to meet some pretty incredible people. I can’t tell you the number of relationships I’ve made recently because I stopped reading labels.

The gorgeous one...yeah, we’ve been friends as long as I can remember. And she’s not stuck up or mean or self-obsessed. She puts me to shame with her refusal to label people, and she will stick by her friends until the end.

The slut...yeah, I know her. She’s actually a daughter of the King, and she’s learning from her mistakes and moving on. And she's going to be a fantastic mamma, you just watch.

The nerd...yeah, I dated him. A more attentive and caring guy you’d be hard pressed to find. And even though it didn’t work out for us, he’s going to make a great husband for someone, someday. I know it.

The talented one...yeah, she’s my best friend. And I almost let the label of talented and pretty and popular keep me from becoming friends with this girl. Through the countless conversations, memories, and jokes that we share, this girl keeps me grounded. Can’t believe I almost missed out.

These are just a few of the people that have come in and out of my life, and each one has challenged and blessed me in some way. These are real people. You are a real person. We are all living in a real world where we were created to be beautifully, transparently, and vulnerably real.  And labels have no place in a world like that.