To start with, how dangerous would it be for you to change the labels of ingredients in your kitchen? Not only would things not cook the same way or taste the same, but that could lead to real danger.

That wouldn’t be smart would it? And it also doesn’t make sense, unless it was a small change and it was a prank… maybe.

The same could be said for the different fluids for your vehicle. If you put the wrong liquid into a reserve, your car could have serious damage. Not only is it dangerous to drive, but it’s costly to repair.

In my daily reading one day from Wisdom for Each Day by Billy Graham, he talked about Read the Label and how we label or explain things matters.

After a sermon, a minister was approached by a member of the congregation. He said that he didn’t want the pastor preaching on sin because if the child heard, they would then be led into sinning, knowing what it was.

What are you supposed to do? In this example, the church member wanted to relabel what sin really was. This in itself is dishonest, resulting in confusion, a twisting of God’s word, and ultimately leading astray young believers.

We need to properly label what is and isn’t sin, highlighted directly from God’s Word, and also call out sin with the consequences of living in it.

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Yesterday in church, our pastor preached over the cost of discipleship from the book of Luke. He talked about the importance of not just selling this “free gift” of Christ but also conveying that there is a cost to following Jesus. It’s not a light decision you make.

To me, if we only focus on what Jesus can do for us – giving us eternal life and a reconciled standing with God – we’re missing out on the full picture and ultimately following a false or lesser version of Jesus.

The truth is, Jesus came and died for our sins. Not just to save us, but died in place of our sins.

How we label this gift and the cost matters. How we convey the true nature of sin and its impact on our lives matters. It’s a devastating implication to not acknowledge sin’s role in the Gospel message.

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Reflection:

How have you mislabeled things in your life?

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Encouragement:

• Just as labels can be relabeled “good” when they’re “bad,” you can relabel the other direction as well. If you’ve labeled something incorrectly, you can change it this week!
• The rest of the Gospel message includes the forgiveness of sins. We can repent and turn to God today with new, true labels on our lives that reflect His character.

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I hope you have a great start to your week!