What's In A Name?

Your name is important. It gives you identity and distinguishes you as being unique. In some cultures, your name tells a story about who you are and who you are becoming. It reflects character and vocation.

Your name implies a relationship. It gives you an identity as well as a sense of worth and meaning. When you are called by name you often feel you are important and taken seriously. In some instances, to hear your name brings an instant connection.

Your name also implies responsibility. What is done under your name reflects on you. Your name can be honored or dishonored by the way you live. And when you act “in someone’s name” you act on their behalf supported by their character and reputation. You either honor or dishonor them by the way you carry their name. You are responsible for their reputation.

So, your name is important.

To discover how important your name can be, let’s explore one biblical example found in Exodus 20 in the Ten Commandments.

Read Exodus 20:7

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. (RSV)

Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. (CEB)

Reflect on Exodus 20:7

What does it mean to “take the name of the Lord”? Early in biblical writings, we find that the Hebrews were not content to call themselves by the name of their nation. They were a nomadic tribe. They had no specific location. They did not stay in one place long enough to be called Canaanites or Egyptians or Assyrians. They were on the go, so they took the name of their deity.

We have done the same as Christians. We have taken on the name of Christ. More specifically, we have taken on the name of Jesus. That means we belong to Jesus and that we represent Jesus to others. We live and act under the authority of Jesus, speaking and acting in ways that reflect the character of Jesus. It means you love your enemies, going beyond normal human kindness to love those who hurt you or work against you.

It means you pray for those who wish to harm you, showing mercy, care, and goodness for them. It means you pursue healthy relationships through humility and purity of heart. It means you recognize your need for God’s love and that you seek to be formed by God’s love for you.

Taking the Name Christian

So, to take the name of Christian means that you live and act as a follower of Jesus Christ. John writes in his good news, Jesus says, “Love one another the way I have loved you. By the way you love one another, people will know you are my followers.”

Now, to take God’s name in vain, or to take the name of Jesus in vain, means you don’t take the name seriously. In vain means “empty, meaningless, of no account, of no seriousness.” It means you take the name of Christian, but your living does not change. You say you are Christian but continue to live with the attitudes, prejudices, and misunderstandings you had before calling yourself Christian. It means to take the name, but you do not live up to the meaning of the name.

Wear God’s Name

The early Christians got the idea that when God gave you a name (baptism) you were adopted into the family. You were called God’s son or daughter. From that time on you were under God’s love. Not only receiving and accepting God’s love for yourself, but by living as God’s sons and daughters in the world. People knew you were God’s child by the way you loved the people around you. In fact, in Matthew’s good news, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

The bottom line? God is interested in his name. God is interested because the only way God has of making God’s love known to the world is through you and me who wear God’s name. You can see God in the lightning and hear God in the thunder, but the only way God makes himself known to the world is through human flesh. To be called a child of God means you bear God’s name, and you resemble that name in the places you live, work, and play.

Respond to Exodus 20:7

When I was in high school, I opened a checking account in a bank in the community. When I needed cash, I would write a check for cash, go to the local grocery store, and the cashier at the register would take my check, greet me by name, and ask how I wanted my cash.

When I went to college, I opened a checking account in a bank in the community. The first time I returned home and I needed cash, I did what I had always done. I wrote a check for cash, went to the grocery store, and handed my check to the cashier. When she looked at my check, instead of greeting me and asking how I wanted the cash, she said, “We don’t cash out of town checks.”

I’m not sure what I said, but I do remember saying, “You have been cashing my checks for years.”

It was at that moment a man, who had never seen before, standing in line behind me said, “Cash his check. I’ll vouch for him.” He looked at me and said “You are Shirley Bias’s boy, aren’t you?

I said, “Yes, sir. I am. But how did you know?”

Well, you are a spitting image of her.”

He had seen in me the image of my mother. I didn’t put her name on my forehead. I didn’t tell him my name. He said “image.” It was the image of my mother in me that identified me.

The Image of God in You

When people see you as a person of peace, reconciliation, mercy, humility, generosity, and kindness, they see you and say,” I know who you are. I see the image of God in you. You are God’s daughter. You are God’s son.”

As the world looks at you today, how do you define the name? What do people associate with God when they look at your living and the life you share with others? What sets you apart as a follower of Jesus? When people see you do they see God’s image in you?

It is my hope that the name of Jesus, the name of Christ, forms who you are and how you relate to the people around you. I know that you would never take God’s name in vain with your lips, I pray that you never take God’s love in vain with your living.

Return

Give God thanks for the people you met today. How do you represent God’s name? How did you love the people around you as God has loved you? What do you need to change to represent God’s love more fully? Through whom did you experience God’s embrace? Who did God embrace through you? Give God thanks for the opportunities to love others as you have been loved.

What’s In a Name?