DAMAGED

Today I had to return an item to a store because it was missing a piece of what it was supposed to contain. Other than missing a small plastic tube it was completely functional. NO big deal, I exchanged it for one that contained that small tube and went on my way. But as I walked away the store employee put a fairly large, bright red sticker on it. The sticker said damaged. Ouch. There was a piece of me that actually wanted to say let me have that one purely because it had been labeled damaged and would be thrown into a pile in the back room.

As someone who has had that sticker placed on me more than once it was personal. Of course i did realize that it was just an object and I continued out of the store but not without God stirring in my heart the spiritual implications.

When your conception was a mistake-Damaged!

When you just cant keep the family happy-Damaged!

When you drop out of high school-Damaged!

When you make poor choices-Damaged!

When your quality and worth depends on anyone or anything but Jesus-Damaged!

When you say someone else is broken-Damaged!

When you think someone else needs to be different-Damaged!

When you do less than love your neighbor-Damaged!

So lets face it, WE ARE ALL DAMAGED! I am not sure that I could find a place on myself where I would not find one of those stickers. And frankly they are comfortable. The thought of even removing one makes me feel exposed. If I am not damaged then who am I? But the fact is, that stirring in me when the returned item was labeled is not even able to be compared to how Jesus feels when we are given those labels. He died so that we could remove those labels and walk in freedom. Let him.

Are you brave enough to allow those labels to be removed from you? It may hurt and be scary at first but then its freeing. You are enough and perfect because God made you that way. And remember that is true for other people too! Don’t put labels on the co worker who does things that you don’t agree with, or the driver who is driving ridiculously slow. And don’t put that label on yourself either. You are not damaged-you are beautifully and wonderfully made!