Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
~ Romans 12:2
So, I'm a librarian.
This means that I do things that librarians do...and some things I had NO idea that librarians do.
Like change spine labels on books.
You know spine labels. They have the Dewey decimal number on them or the author's name and the type of book it is -- fiction, biography, young adult, etc.
These labels help you locate a book.
These labels are also purposed to let you make a generalization about the contents of the book without having to open it or even look at its cover.
Just by knowing the spine label is, say, 782.12 a passerby can know that that particular book is about vocal music.
841? French poetry.
305? Social groups. (There are a ton of those books!)
963? General history of Ethiopia.
But sometimes, these books get mislabeled. This happens for a variety of reasons.
Perhaps the general topic doesn't quite match up with the way the book is written. Maybe it's a picture book, but it's about immigration. Now it qualifies for two different sections.
How about a graphic novel about a real life person that's set during the Holocaust? Well now it qualifies for three sections.
Poetry book about pets? ...well, you get my drift.
The cool thing about being a librarian is that if you take a closer look at a book and feel it doesn't "belong" within its label, you get to reclassify it.
I feel like the same is true with God: How He sees us vs. How the world sees us vs. How we see ourselves.
The world may label you one thing. You may see yourself as another. But God knows every page of you.
If truth be told, we all defy all the labels -- and titles -- we try to stick on ourselves and others. At our core, each of us is just a big ol' bundle of mess...but He loves us anyhow.
And while we're down here, busying ourselves with classification -- black, white, rich, poor, hippie, square -- it feels good to know that He knows that we only need one label: His.
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