God Chooses Your Name

God Chooses Your Name

Sept 8, 2008

Proverbs 22:1 "A good name is more desirable than great riches..."

In our house, we have several "pet" names for our children and each other. They are familiar, affectionate names that we all answer to. Only the most intimate insider knows these names. No one outside our immediate nucleus knows, but we use them on a daily basis. When we use these names, they create a sense of love in the atmosphere and all sorts of warm feelings about the loved one. It draws us close and makes us feel dear to each other.

The Bible says that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. It is talking about, of course, a good reputation. That reputation is what others think of you when they hear your name. The reputation can be respectable or one of ill repute, but nonetheless, every time someone mentions your name, it creates feelings inside those who know you. Your name conjures up feelings in others based on your actions and interactions with them. It is good to have a great reputation with others but it is more important to have a good reputation with God. Every time He hears your name, it conjures up feelings inside Him about you and your behaviors, how you have acted and interacted with Him. Based on your activities over the span of your life, you have created a reputation in the Lord's eyes.

From that reputation, He has given you a name. It may be an affectionate "pet" name or it may be a word that makes Him want to spit. Whether you know it or not, He does not refer to you by the name on your birth certificate; He refers to you by how you are seen in His eyes. In the Bible, there was a man named Solomon; at least that is the name his parents gave him. But God said that He called Him Jedidiah, which means "loved by the Lord." Jedidiah was an affectionate name God had given to Solomon because of Solomon's reputation with God.

The name He has for you might be honorable or you might be ashamed by it. It might be a badge based on your actions or a disgrace. Either way, I would consider how the Lord thinks of you. In the Bible, God changed many people's names. Jacob was called a deceiver, but God changed his name to Israel, meaning an overcomer. David was a murderer and adulterer but God referred to him as a man after God's own heart. Whatever the earthly stigma your name might have, it is truly possible for the Lord to change your name. He wants to refer to you with an affectionate name that gives Him warm feelings inside every time your name is mentioned in His presence. And it is the name He will call you when you get to Heaven.

1. Have a name or reputation you'd like to change?
2. What is the name the Lord calls you?

Additional Scriptures for Study: Gen 32:28, I Sam 13:14, II Sam 12, Proverbs 3, Acts 13:22