Labels and new thinking

I remember in college learning about how the brain "labels" 90% of what we see, who we met, and where we go so that we have to do less thinking in a day. {I don't FEEL like I do less thinking in a day!} We spend time analysing a situation, come to a conclusion and stick a label on it. Not new information, I'm sure. We know we do it, but are we aware of how much we do it? Or the affect it has on our relationships?

I've been thinking about how I label myself. I'm a pretty analytical person. {Some people in my life would say a critical person, but that would be a different post, right?} I've spent a fair amount of time analyzing myself, knowing my strengths and weaknesses, knowing my spiritual gifts and my sin tendancies, knowing my personality types and my teaching style. And with each conclusion I've reached, I've taken my mental label maker, printed off a sticker, and put it on myself.

I've realized recently that it is hard for me to make decisions that are inconsistent with the labels I've created. Seems a bit silly, doesn't it? There are areas of my life where I would like to see change happen. I hear the Lord say "You can do all things through me!" I have His word telling me to pursue a new direction. But in the back of my head I hear "I'm not that person! I know how You have made me! I would be living a lie if I try to be like that!" Why do I hold myself back that way? Why can't I just purpose in my heart to make a new label? Or better yet, why can't hand the label maker over to the Lord?

I want to wake up this morning and say "But the grace of God I will be who God has called me to be and not the person that I am" without feeling so fake. I know this "fakeness" is really just living out a life that it inconsistent with the label I have made. The Bible tells me that I am a new creation but I want that "newness" to be a one time event that I can then, you guessed it, stick a label on. It takes an emotional and mental boldness to drop the labels and be a new creation today. And to wake up tomorrow and be a new creation tomorrow.

If I am to be growing in holiness, shouldn't I expect to be living differently each day? To be loving differently? To be growing in knowledge and depth of insight must result in a changed life! I can't be the same today as I was yesterday. I can't cling to the old thoughts and old behaviors just because that is who I am. "Who I am" must become "who I was." The labels I make aren't without purpose. However, they shouldn't be the filters by which I make decisions and respond to situations. They should only be benchmarks that show me where I need to grow and change to be made into the likeness of Jesus.