This World Wants To Redefine You

"Tiny Tim." Man, I hated that label. 

 I was a runt when I entered high school. I'm talking really, really short. 

To make matters worse, several of my classes were in the main building with upperclassmen. So, while I was short among freshman, I looked like a dwarf among upperclassmen. Needless to say, I learned to tread lightly and blend into the background. I tried to go as unnoticed as I possibly could. 

Unfortunately, there was one person who couldn't ignore my short stature. I sat next to this high school jr. in band and she constantly made comments about how small I was. She wasn't ugly about it.  As a matter of fact she was constantly saying how "cute" I was. Now, cute may be okay when you are 3 or 4, but when you're a 14-15 year-old high school student, cute is not a good thing. Still, she meant nothing cruel about it and, if I were honest, I probably liked the attention from an upperclass girl. 

But then one day she uttered a word that would stick with me for the next couple years. 

"Tiny!" She called me "Tiny Tim!" 

Ouch, that stung worse than cute. If it was just a one time thing, it would have been no big deal, but the label stuck. Everyone in band started calling me "Tiny." I don't think anyone had ill feelings toward me or was doing it to make fun of me, it just became a nickname that everyone started using. I wasn't scarred for life and it didn't ruin my high school years. I learned to live with it and was so thankful when my late blooming body finally hit puberty after my junior year.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Puberty didn't kick-in until the summer before my senior year.  Fortunately, during my senior year, I was able to shed that label since my stature rendered that label as non-applicable. 

Labels can be tough though. I've learned over the course of my life that the world will always try to define you by sticking some kind of label on you. Motivated by the enemy of our souls, this world's culture desperately wants to redefine what God has already defined. If we aren't diligent in standing against it, those labels will stick and will rewrite our identity. 

In Scripture, we are told of 4 Jewish men who were taken captive and brought to Babylon. There, they were given new names. Their Jewish names were replaced by Babylonian names. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were their Hebrew names but their Babylonian captors slapped them with the labels Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Now, while there is some uncertainty as to what these new Babylonian names meant, it is certain that the purpose was to strip them of their godly heritage and redefine them. 

Each of their Hebrew names had a godly heritage attached to it. Daniel meant, "God is my judge." Hananiah's name meant, "God has favored." Mishael's name meant, "Who is what God is?" And Azariah's name meant, "Jehovah has helped."   The world in which they found themselves tried desperately to rewrite their identity. These men refused to conform to the identity that Babylon tried to saddle them with. 

It is no different for you and I today. We are constantly challenged to conform to the labels that the world has for us. Redefining what God has already defined is what the world does best. We are instructed in Scripture to stand against the enemy's attempt to redefine us.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2 NKJV). 

This world will squeeze you into it's mold if you allow it to. It will label you with an identity that contradicts everything God declares about you. The enemy will use those closest to you to reaffirm his well crafted labels in order to convince you that you are what he declares you are. You and you alone have the power to choose who you will get your identity from. God knew you before you were born. He declared the truth about who you are before you breathed one breath. If you'll go to Him to find your identity, you'll discover the truth about who you are. 

Today, at two hundred and none-of-your-business pounds, I carry no resemblance of that label that was attached to me as a freshman in high school. While I learned to live with that label given to me in my high school years, I now fight to shed any label that the world tries to put on me that isn't consistent with what God declares about me. By the way, my name Timothy means, "honoring God." Tiny? That's just a stupid label the enemy used to try to redefine me. I've determined that my identity will be found in my Creator and not the labels that this world tries to attach to me. Will you join me in rejecting all the labels that this culture tries to stick on you and accepting the reality of who God says you are? 

For more on Identity check out my 31-day devotional on identity here...