Thursday Devotional 2026: Labels
The Labels We Carry
Anthony—not his real name—sat on a bench at Michael’s Bowl with his arms crossed. He stared down at the ground, and the look on his face told the whole story of his week at camp.
Things had not been going well.
Anthony and another boy in his cabin were struggling to get along. Their arguments kept turning into pushing and shoving. Then pushing and shoving turned into hitting. And because Anthony was a big guy, he usually ended up on top of the fight.
His counselor had tried everything he could. The Village Director had stepped in several times. But nothing seemed to be changing. Finally, it was time for me to have the hard conversation.
“Anthony,” I said gently, “it’s okay to feel upset. Everyone gets angry sometimes. But you can’t push, shove, or hit. That’s not okay.”
I explained the expectations clearly. I told him we all wanted to help him succeed. His counselor, the Village Director, and I were all on his side. But I also told him that if he got into another fight, we would understand that as his way of saying he wanted to go home. And even though it would make us sad, we would have to honor that choice.
Then I asked him, “Do you think you can do what we’re asking?”
Anthony shook his head no.
“Why not?” I asked.
His answer surprised me.
“I’m an anger management kid,” he said. “I get angry. I can’t control it. It’s just who I am.”
He said it like I should have already known. Like there was nothing anyone could do about it.
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“My school counselor,” he said with a shrug.
I paused for a moment and tried to collect my thoughts.
“Anthony,” I said, “I don’t believe that.”
He looked up at me.
“I’m sure your school counselor was trying to help,” I continued. “But I don’t believe that label tells the truth about who you are. You are not just an ‘anger management kid.’ You are an incredibly gifted young man. You are capable of making choices. You are capable of growing. You are capable of becoming the person God created you to be.”
Then I told him the most important thing.
“God chose you to be His child. He loves you. He believes in you. And He can give you the strength to face hard things and make different choices.”
Anthony looked at me like he had never heard anything like that before.
So I made him a deal.
Every morning at line call, I would quietly remind him that he was loved, that God believed in him, and that I believed in him too. And then we would wait and watch what God was going to do in his life.
We never had to send Anthony home that summer.
The next summer, he came back to camp. There were no fights. There were no conversations about sending him home. And every summer after that, I watched Anthony grow into one of the kindest, gentlest, and most thoughtful young men I had ever known.
There is no limit to what we can become when we stop living under the labels other people give us and start living in the love God gives us.
One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has gone; a new life has begun.”
Have you ever felt trapped by a label someone gave you?
Smart. Lazy. Funny. Beautiful. Slow. Clumsy. Ugly. Popular. Annoying. Angry. Weird. Too much. Not enough.
Labels can hurt. They can make us feel stuck. They are usually too small to tell the whole truth about who we are.
Maybe someone else has labeled you. Maybe you have labeled yourself.
But God tells a better story.
You are not defined by your worst moment. You are not trapped by your past. You are not stuck being who someone else said you were.
You are God’s precious child.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less. And there is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
Romans 8:38–39 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Not failure.
Not labels.
Not anything.
So just imagine the person you could become if you really believed what God says about you.
You are loved.
You are chosen.
You are becoming new.
Discussion Questions
Why do you think Anthony believed the label “anger management kid” so strongly?
Have you ever been given a label that hurt you or made you feel stuck? What was that like?
Why are labels often too small to tell the whole truth about a person?
What is the difference between saying, “I made a bad choice,” and saying, “I am a bad person”?
What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 teach us about who we can become in Jesus?
What is one label you need to stop believing about yourself?
What is one truth from God that you want to remember this week?
Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for loving me exactly as I am. Thank You that I am not defined by my worst moments, my biggest mistakes, or the labels other people give me.
Help me believe what You say about me. Remind me that I am Your child, that I am loved, and that You are making me new.
Give me the courage to let go of the labels that hurt me. Help me see others the way You see them too.
Thank You that nothing can separate me from Your love.
Amen.
