Bullets for the Battle

Bullet of Meaning: Content is More Important than Labels

In our last post we looked at the shorthand of labels. Today let’s dig deeper.

I know one thing for sure. A label doesn’t always guarantee contents. Pour a Dr. Pepper into a Coke bottle and it’s still Dr. Pepper! But there is a vast and enormous difference between God and Dr. Pepper! The bigger the idea, the less effective is the label. It’s a simple matter to label a thing; label a six-inch-long piece of wood that makes marks as a pencil. When you’ve said, “pencil,” you’ve said it all. It’s impossible, however, to reduce God to a label. Pour Him into a Baptist label, Methodist label, Catholic label or what have you, but you can never say it all. God is too big to label. Try to define “love” in one word! You can’t! Love is too big, too involved, too great to describe even in a book, much less a one-word label.

I’ve born a lot of religious labels in my life, but none of them has had any power. Power doesn’t come from labels but from reality. I’m sure most true believers wish they could drop their man-made labels and be known simply as Christians who love Jesus Christ. But, alas, it looks like labels are here to stay.

So, what’s the answer? Labels are only for the mature. The wise person examines the contents before he believes the label. Some Presbyterians are great Christians, other are mediocre and nauseous. Some Baptist live like Christ while others live like the devil. The real disciple will look beyond his label and make Jesus Christ the issue. It makes little difference what label you bear unless God’s lifestyle is evident in your actions. The issue is not labels but contents!

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Jesus said that to everybody, regardless of their labels.