Labels and Life

A headline caught my attention the other day.

A man had committed a horrific crime and somewhere near the top of the article was a detail that seemed oddly out of place: naturalized citizen.

Not just a murderer.
More than just a tragedy.
But, a life reduced to a label.

Of course, labels aren’t anything new. At one point, the term in bold print was illegal immigrant. Then, immigrant. Now it’s naturalized citizen. Different words hinting, not so subtly, at the same thing: if you weren’t born here then you don’t belong here. Knowing where someone came from doesn’t explain what they’ve done.

Now don’t get me wrong: I believe in and support lawful immigration. I don’t believe allowing mass migration over an unchecked border is something any nation should allow. It doesn’t solve any problems. It just exacerbates them.

I can’t help but wonder why some people get reduced to a category or a label instead of being given the dignity of simply being seen as human?

I grew up as an immigrant kid in East Texas. Now, I didn’t have language for it back then, but I felt it.

The curious stares, not so subtle questions and the unspoken sense that I needed to prove something in order to belong and truthfully, in some eyes, I couldn’t do anything to belong.

It didn’t always present itself with hostility and not everyone saw me in negative light. There were many who welcomed me with open arms and genuine hospitality. But the question lingered, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Kids are resilient. I learned to navigate the challenges. I adapted. I attempted to blend in where I could, but I wasn’t always successful. You can only carry what you can carry. We aren’t meant to carry everything.

Over time, I built a life.

I think that’s why this particular headline echoed within my heart. It was a headline that refused to stay on the page. It brought forth anew what I believed to be settled conversations.

What’s crazy to me is, sometimes I’ve even felt this way in church. During the meet and greet or when introducing myself to someone new, they hear my name, pause, and get this quizzical expression that says it all. You’re not from around here, are you?

I’m not gonna lie: being made to feel less than gets old real fast. That’s true whether it’s as a little kid playing in the schoolyard or serving the Lord in ministry. No matter where you go, there you are.

Scripture speaks into this tension in a way that cuts deeper than politics or public opinion ever could:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Ephesians 2:19 ESV

There’s a kind of belonging that the world struggles to define and often gets wrong. It’s a belonging that isn’t based on where you were born, what papers you carry, or how well you fit someone else’s idea of “from here.”

It is a belonging that is given, not earned. Declared, not debated.

Since time began, the world has always been quick to label.

Jesus Himself was labeled as an outsider, a threat, and a blasphemer.

The labels weren’t true but people needed a way to contain what they didn’t understand. Labels are containers, boxes that limit our existence into categories that make us comfortable when confronted with the new, the strange, and the stranger.

To be honest, labels make things simpler, cleaner, and easier to categorize. But, they rarely tell the truth about a person. We live in an age that doesn’t reward measured nuance. These days, the headline that generates the most outrage wins the day.

Here’s what I know, both as a proud citizen of America and as a humble follower of Jesus Christ:

A single headline does not define an entire people anymore than one act defines a whole story. You can be called something and still be someone deeper.

Labels don’t determine belonging.

For those of us who have lived between categories and felt the tension of being seen but not fully known and who have carried both gratitude and questions about where we stand, there is an invitation here to root our identity in something more stable than public opinion or the imposed boxes of others, in general.

Belonging isn’t something the world gets to grant or take away.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
You see beyond every label placed on us. Where the world reduces us, You restore. Where the world questions our right to be, You affirm: we belong.

Please remind us that our identity is not fragile, or dependent on headlines and human judgment. Our identity is anchored in You.

Teach us to see others the same way; not as categories to be sorted, but as people to be understood and loved.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Be salty, stay lit.

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™

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