What’s in a Name?

I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. Rev 2:17b NIV

What’s in a name? You listen for a particular name so you can pick up your pizza at the counter. When they hear their first and middle names, mischievous little boys and girls know it will not be a good day. The final rounds of graduations have been completed and each person waited eagerly to hear their name being called out so they could receive their diploma. We all like to hear our names called out, whether at the pizza shop or an elegant ceremony.

Through the years, parents have spent countless hours trying to come up with the perfect name. The problem is, you can’t count on your chosen name being popular in a few years. My mother’s name was Mildred, a name that was in the top 10 for over two decades in the early 1900s, then it vanished from the lists. When’s the last time you heard of a little Mildred? However, there is hope for the Mildreds, Normans, Gladys, and Doris of the world according to name expert Sophie Kihm but it will take about 100 years. The seemingly “old-fashioned” sounding names will become trendy again, which means someday there will be an increase of Mildreds in kindergarten classes.

There are a few of us who will patiently sit through the scrolling list of names at the end of a movie, acknowledging the countless list of people involved in the movie production. They deserve a little acknowledgment! Scrolling through movie credits is a little like scrolling through the list of names in the book of First Chronicles. You encounter name after name but then all of a sudden you stumble over Jabez. Maybe not a name in the top 20 since few parents want to stick, “he makes sorrow,” on their baby. You wonder if every time little Jabez heard his name being called it reminded him of the pain that he had caused his mother at birth. Playing outside had to be a challenge hearing all the boys shouting, here comes “he makes sorrow.” (I Chron 4:9-10)

Jabez didn’t have a choice on what his mother named him. He may not have liked the name, but he did have a choice on what he would do with the name in life. Instead of making others sorrowful, he asked God to bless him and expand his influence. I like the NKJV translation, “that I may not cause pain, And God granted his request.” That is taking your name and giving it a new meaning for life!

Mildred was a name that identified my mother among her family, friends, and community. However, the real part of her identity came out of her values, character, personality, and faith. Our true identity is not the label we call a name but the deep values that we come to know.

The world knew in the 1970s that the name, Charles Colson, reflected a power-hungry, ruthless hatchet man for Pres. Richard Nixon, and would eventually be convicted of his crimes and sentenced to prison. The name, Colson was tarnished, reputation destroyed, and politically finished. The story could have ended there, and his name would have gone down in history as a disgraced and ruthless man. Yet his story wasn’t over because of God’s work of redemption in his life. He left prison in 1975 having served his sentence but more importantly, he walked out of prison with a redeemed name because of Jesus Christ.

Jonathan Aitken was a broken and disgraced former Member of Parliament in the UK. It was through Colson reaching out to him in friendship and support that changed Aitken’s life. In a letter to Aitken, Colson wrote, “Your greatest test will be right now, Jonathan. You can let circumstances shatter you as I saw you quoted in the press or you can decide that adversity will be your greatest blessing…As you know, I have looked back on Watergate and thank God for it. Through that crucible I came to know Christ personally and discovered that in the darkest moments of my life, He was working to produce what I would later see as the greatest blessings of my life.”

Aitken in his biography on Charles Colson wrote, “For Colson’s footprints on the sands of time go predictably deep in the spiritual fields where he has worked since his Christian conversion.” “Colson has lived to see his reputation transformed and his life redeemed. By any standard it is a remarkable turnaround, which his admirers say could have been accomplished only by the hand of God.” (Jonathan Aitken, Charles W. Colson, A Life Redeemed)

What’s in a name? Without a doubt, it is far more than a picture on your driver’s license or even the name on your regular paycheck. Author Ann Spangler writes, “It helps to realize that names in the ancient world in which the Bible was written often functioned differently than they do today. In addition to distinguishing one person from another and linking people to their family heritage, names were thought to reveal the essential nature and character of a person.”

What’s in a name? Paul knew something about tarnished names since people would hear his name and go into hiding out of fear of him. That was until God took him and he became a work of art, a new creation. Paul would later write, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17).

What’s in a name?

Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O LORD God of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me.” Psalm 69:6

God is great!