Names have great influence and power over our lives. They are ordained by the Lord God or the devil. People pick names wither believer or unbeliever and the child tends to fulfill or at least have elements in their life that resemble the meaning of their name. Is name-ology a mysticism? No, it is merely an observation. It says, "God formed you in the womb," (Jeremiah 1:5) and so our Lord Jesus Christ knew us before we were ever born. However, words have power. An example is when God said, "let their be light and there was light." (Genesis 1:3). Another example is King Solomon's proverb, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." (Proverbs 18:21).
There is a famous saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." What a false statement. The Apostle James proclaims in contrast, "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” (James 3:5-8). Evidently are words can set forth into motion great destruction, in fact words always precede swords.
Our God and Savior Jesus Christ said of words, "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned,” (Matthew 12:36-37), and "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.” (Matthew 12:33-35).
If words can be so devastating and yet also proponents of Truth, what of a name? A name is a word, is defines or affirms a person's existence and how to make them known, and a means to address them. If a name is a word, then should great care be put into the word that a child shall carry into adulthood and the rest of their life? Can the word or name effect them? The answer I believe is most certainly yes.
An example for evil I would like to use is Diane or Diana. This name gets its origin from the goddess Diana, who is false demon who was worshipped by various peoples. What is alarming is that one of the most famous people to bear this name was Princess Diana of England and she too was in a way worshipped by the English People and called "The People's Princess." To this day there is an infatuation and veneration of Princess Dia, and I ask, could it have something to do with that she was named after a goddess? Other princesses have been born, but never had such acclaim.
God seems to care about names, because he renamed his two most famous apostles: "Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, "Your name is Simon, son of John--but you will be called Cephas" (which means "Peter"). (John 1:42) and "Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said.." (Acts 13:9). Peter was once called Simon, and Paul was once named Saul. Out of all the apostles the Alpha and Omega chose to rename them, why? Simon in Hebrew means "He (God) has heard," while Cephas or Peter means "The Rock." This is important because Jesus is changing the meaning of this apostle's name from 'God has heard' to the Rock, which is another word for Salvation, because our Lord says, "Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock (who Jesus is, what Peter said "you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God") I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it," (Matthew 16:16-17) and Jesus says, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25). To be clear, the rock is Jesus Christ (Luke 20:17, 1 Peter 2:6, Ephesians 2:2). Peter's name being changed was to denote his new destiny or calling to apostleship; He was to be instead of just "God has heard," your prayer, to God Has Answered your prayer with the Gospel. Instead of his name meaning God hears, He becomes God Does (Gospel).
For Paul, the change in name had major literal difference. Saul in Hebrew means "Great or Mighty One" while Paul means "Little One or Weak One." This is important because the first Saul was the first King of Israel and Paul as Saul was puffed up with pride as a great Pharisee (Philippians 3:5) and master of the Law. God renamed Saul to Paul, so that in all his revelations and great expositions he would remember to be humble, in fact Paul had an affliction, "even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud." (2 Corinthians 12:7).
In a way Peter's name change was elevation from a humble title to more majestic one of bearing of the Gospel, and Paul's was push to humility. Both these men needed different names due to their struggles; Peter with possible inferiority and Paul because of the temptation of having an inflated view of himself (pride). The name compliment their weaknesses, which is what Jesus said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Sometimes the name tells what the person shall be in God's Kingdom, other times it denotes what they shall struggle to achieve or find their whole life. For instance, a girl maybe named Grace and it takes a lot of grace to be around her because she's strong willed and shrieks. Our names can either tell us what God intends out of our lives or what we shall need in our calling in Christ Jesus. Then there is the third and final purpose of name and it is how Satan will twist a name. If a person is named Michael, which means "Who is like God," they may be the opposite and more like "Who is not like God," because the enemy seeks to make mockery out of them and turn them into the opposite of what their calling was suppose to be.
Names like words carry a great weight, and we should seek the Lord's will on what to name a child. Sometimes even when not seeking, the name that is meant for the person is found by the parents; however in the cases of Ichabod, Jezebel, and other odd names; our God and Savior Jesus Christ can give you a new name. If you feel that your name is evil in origin like Diana or that it does not fit you, it maybe time to ask the Lord to rename you and give you the name He intended for you.
Comments
Post a Comment