Mankind, among many other things, has excelled in labeling things. We have labels for everything and from there, we draw conclusions. I mean we label some people black, some white, some brown. I often ask my friends how we came about this colour thing but that's humanity, we just label, oftentimes with reasons behind it. We have labels like ex- convicts because they were convicted of crimes in a law court; the poor because of their poverty, the masses basically out of their conditions. It's just in us to label things.

In our subconsciousness, when we meet people, we identify them by the label society gives them and accordingly judge them. Not very many of us have been able to overcome this tendency. However, truth be told - we don't have the right to label and draw conclusions on anyone. It is preposterous to conclude on a creature we did not create, no matter their conditions. More importantly for me in this piece is to let whoever has been labelled and pre-judged to know that no man holds the power to write you off and conclude on your file no matter your condition. That is to say, if the society would not stop labelling you, you owe it to yourself not to give the society that power over your life.

I am writing especially to the ones the society calls ex-convicts not to allow that label in their consciousness. Don't live it out. Don't accept that label. The only One with the legitimate authority to label you is the God who created you because he formed you with a purpose. If this fallen world has tampered with your configuration, God who made you from the dust and breathed into you (Genesis 2:7) can remould you because he still has the clay in his hands. He is the potter and you are the clay. Jeremiah 18:1-6. It is preposterous for anyone who wasn't there when God made to write you off, irrespective of what's going on in your life at the moment. It's your brief to assert what you are called by the one who designed you. You need to trace your beginning and you will find your purpose.

Look at how you were made. He made you in his image. Genesis 1:27. Whether they label you by your colour or race or by your criminal record, you were made in the image of God and there's more to your life than the criminal record. You do not need to try to change your colour or try to look like another or give in to any inferiority complex. You are fine as you are because you are the image of God. That's what the bible says and you are going to take it like that literally. If you look elsewhere to know yourself, you will find a distorted version. Today, satan is leading the pack of those who want you to accept something else about yourself. Don't believe the lie of the devil. Don't fall for the hypocrisy of society. There is a God who created the universe and He didn't make you a convict. He can show you Mercy and bring you back to your original purpose. 

If the society calls you an ex-convict, that's neither your summation nor your conclusion. It is even possible that you were rightly convicted, that doesn't have to be your conclusion. Don't settle there and believe it's over for you or that you can't get out of a life of crime. The God who made you is still there and He has not given up on you. Don't sink in self pity or accept the label of the society. The woman caught in the act of adultery in John chapter 8 comes to mind. In verse 10, Jesus calls her by the name she was called before the foundation of the world. He said, ‘woman’, not an adulteress. No condemnation. Jesus said he has not condemned her but that she should go and sin no more. Jesus was simply telling her that the conviction doesn't have to be her finality. There is a life to be lived after conviction and that life can be wholesome if you surrender what's left to the one who made you. He can still make you fulfilled.

The society is not perfect and we're all flawed including the systems but God is not deterred by these, so don't be. Just listen to the one who created you and called you by name. He has a plan for your life, if you will let him. He has made provision for your cleansing and acceptance as his beloved through the sacrifice for sins fully paid by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Don't let society hold you down by the label. You can tear it off and replace it with the label God has for you even before your errors. The label is still valid. He says, I am your maker, not the society. Isaiah 54:5. “Come home to me and I'll fix you. I'll mend your broken heart. I will because I care.” Read Jeremiah chapter 18. Would you listen to the voice of your creator? 

The interesting thing about accepting the label of God is that once you accept God's label, you suddenly realise a new vista of hope, you will develop a new sense of living. You place his conclusion about you over and above what the society has said about you. His conclusion about you is good from the beginning. Accepting his label helps you in alignment with him and his purpose for your life. You can dream again. That addiction will break off your life. Come to the Lord, Jesus and He will give you a new beginning.

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