Do you ever think much about names? We humans like to name things. Maybe it’s because that was the first job God ever gave us way back in the garden of Eden. Adam first named his wife Eve, and then God gave them the task of naming all the animals. In the Bible names are a big deal. God is called by a lot of different names, each reflecting a different one of His attributes.
When I had each of my children I took special care to pick out their names. Each of their names has a specific meaning that I hoped and prayed they would grow into. I also found verses that went along with the meaning of their names. I really believe though, that God Himself names each one of us. I have met many people who have, (mostly unknowingly) lived into the meaning of their names, whether their parents had chosen their name for its meaning or just because they liked it.
Have you ever looked up what your name means? My full name is Christy, named after the character in Catherine Marshall’s book of the same name. Oddly enough, I was about 21 before I actually read the book. The strange thing is that I found myself to be quite similar to the Christy of the book.
As I was reading my Bible one day, I came across the name “Ebenezer.” The only Ebenezer I have ever heard of bore the last name Scrooge. It was the footnote in my Bible, however, that really got me thinking. It said that the name “Ebenezer,” means ‘stone of help.’ It made me wonder about Dickens. Did he know the meaning behind the name he dubbed his infamous character? I like to think that as the author, with the redemptive end for Scrooge in mind, he did know the meaning. By the end of his Christmas Carol, Ebenezer was most definitely living into his name, providing help for many in his town.
I believe that God creates each of us with a special plan in mind. Sometimes part of His plan is revealed quite clearly in our name. Even if your name has not been something that you have been especially fond of in your life, I would encourage you to talk to God about it. Ask Him to reveal His meaning for your name to you. He may even want to reveal a new name to you, or a new meaning for your name. No matter what the meaning for your name, I pray that you come to realize more deeply that God created you unique, with a special purpose that He will reveal more and more the closer you walk with Him.
Merry Christmas, and God bless us every one!
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1
“The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.” Isaiah 62:2
Do you struggle with the concept of faith? I know I do. I think of faith in all capital letters: FAITH. As though it is a huge work that I have to do before experiencing good things such as grace, hope or love. I think of it as a feeling that I have to create inside myself before I can move forward.
This whole tiny faith concept makes me think of snowballs. They technically start as a single little flake of snow, but as you roll them, they grow quickly. Snow can even become an avalanche. What if God wants to take your little bit of faith, my little bit of faith, and turn it into an avalanche of faith? After all, isn’t an avalanche like a mountain moving?
Think about what could happen if each of us had faith like that, if we could trust God that much. I know my life would look different. I would have far fewer worries and I would stop wasting so much energy on the, “what ifs.” Then I could have real trust, which as an unknown author said, “Bounces on eager toes of anticipation–laughs with pure delight of knowing in whom it believes–rests easy on whom it waits.”
Despite the fact that the baby Jesus came to earth to seek and save those who are lost, He regularly gets Himself lost at our house. We are always on the hunt for the wayward Savior. Sometimes He slips down between the couch cushions. On occasion He has been found under furniture. One year He disappeared for almost the whole Christmas season. He has been vacuumed up twice, and shockingly, ran over by the Christmas train more than once. (He is just too tempting of a victim, being bound in swaddling clothes!)
Normally we don’t enjoy being last. Especially us Americans. We have been taught from birth that there is no other place than first, and that second place is just the first loser. However, I have found something recently that I do like being last to. There is a stretch of road construction on a highway I drive several times a week. This is a major project which involves fairly long traffic delays. I am very happy to come up to the traffic stop last, just as traffic is being allowed to start proceeding!
Being motivated to succeed is not necessarily a bad thing, we just take it to extremes many times in our culture. We also, as believers in Jesus, have to be very careful not to measure our relationship with Him the same way the world would. We can very easily fall into the thinking that we need to be “first” in His eyes by doing a lot for Him. If we volunteer to teach Sunday school, sing at church, give to a lot of causes, follow all the “rules,” then we will be worthy to be in a relationship with Him.
Back in Jesus’ day there were people with the same mindset. They believed that if they followed all of the law, or “rules,” they would be first in the kingdom of heaven. In the book of Matthew in the Bible, Jesus told them it didn’t work that way. He explained that God’s economy is the exact opposite of our human one. In fact, He flat out said that the first will be last, and the last will be first. This was revolutionary to the people of His day and to us too. We cannot work our way into heaven and we cannot buy our way in, salvation is a free gift of grace.
Do you tend to fall into the thinking that everything depends on you?
I can’t say that I hope you have an opportunity to see God work in this way in your life, because as the examples show, we usually don’t like the way the opportunities are presented! We live in a world where these times are unavoidable though, so when the curtain is pulled back on an illusion you have been depending on, remember it is just that, an illusion, and underneath is the rock solid love of God.
The other day I was late getting out of the house, or so I thought. As I went out the door I was in fact, right on time to catch two of my children with arm loads of glass sheets they had taken out of the louvered windows of an old travel trailer we have. Their intention was to try to wedge it in the windows of a little cabin they had constructed. In my mother imagination all I could see was broken shards of glass everywhere and children sliced to ribbons. I had them immediately return the glass to the trailer and assured them we would come up with a safer alternative.
The part of the whole incident that was reassuring to me, is that God is completely in control, even, and probably most especially when, I feel out of control. That day I had felt that my morning had gone “wrong,” and I was feeling a lot of guilt over being late. In our hurry culture, full of schedules, we can mistakenly get the idea that we are in control of our days. Usually we are brought up short in this belief by interruptions, some as mild as traffic and some much more serious.
So the next time I think I am running late, or I get caught in traffic, I am going to say no to the instant anxiety that wells up inside me. Instead I am going to remind myself of all the times that my Heavenly Father has had perfect timing in my life and try to rest in Him.