Have you ever been labeled by someone?  Are you a liberal or a conservative?  Are you a republican or a democrat?  Are you pro-life or pro-choice?  Are you a vegetarian or a pescatarian?  Are you a morning person or a night person?  Are you a redneck or a preppie?  We all have been labeled by people at some time or another.  Christ has labeled us as well.
 
Some people loved being labeled.  I think it is in some sense a measure of belonging.  We all want to belong to something that is bigger than ourselves.  Other people hate being labeled.  They want to be their own person.  It seems weightier to be original.  If you are a follower of Christ, you should come to terms with the fact that you have been labeled.  In Acts 11:26, the disciples were first labeled as Christians.  A Christian is simply a follower of Christ.  Today the label has garnered quite a bit of baggage. Many followers of Christ are moving away from the term "Christian".  But in the original usage a follower of Christ is a Christian.
 
Jesus did not call His followers Christians.  He actually had another label for them.  He told His followers that they were “salt of the earth” and “light to the world.”  This was a two-fold description of true Christianity.  Anyone who follows Christ should be a preservative of God’s kingdom on earth while illuminating that kingdom in the world.  We need to keep the world from rotting while blasting the darkness with light.  I think Jesus had in mind that we would live with grace and truth everyday.  If we do this then He says that we are “salt and light.”  That’s the kind of label that fits the followers of Christ.
 
 Grace and Truth to You,
 Chris