What's in a name?

The past two weeks, I've pondered where I want my blog to go and what do I want my blog title to be. Is it really important? In the past, it wasn't important to me.  I've had continual heart change moments and today, found myself saying, Yes! it is important. God changed names in the Bible, that's significance. I wanted to just leave it. Let it be. Mission: Ukraine. But I felt God was offering me so much more and I was missing it, so I dug deeper and found  that in the Bible, names had deep significance and were carefully chosen to have meaning and purpose. Sometimes the name was closely related to an aspect of the child's birth. For example, when the aged Sarah and Abraham had a son, he was named "Isaac," which means "laughter," because Sarah laughed when God said she would conceive.

So Why Would God Change Someone's Name?
Sometimes, God changed people's names. The name change corresponded with a life change that would make them entirely different people. A prime example of this was when Saul, who was known for persecuting Christians, became known as Paul, the disciple of Jesus. In Greek, "Paul" means small, and it is a mark of humility that God changed his original kingly name to one more suited to God's servant to the gentiles.

In some cases, the change God made in a name did not immediately result in a life change. In fact, sometimes the idea of such a transformation seemed absurd. In Genesis 17:5, when God changed Abram's ("High Father") name to "Abraham" ("father of many nations"), it seemed highly unlikely that this childless man whose age was a little short of a century would ever become what this new name implied. But God apparently names people as though the meaning is already true, then proceeds to change them and make them fit the name (Romans 4:17). Did you catch that? God has already renamed us and is making us NEW. We will fit his new naming of us.

Jacob was born holding his twin brother Esau's heel, and his name meant "holder of the heel" or "supplanter." Later, after he spent an exhausting night wrestling with God, he got a new name. In Genesis 32:28 God says "Jacob" would instead be known as "Israel" ("God contended") "because he struggled with God and men and won." It certainly was an unusual victory because he was in the process of running from his angry brother, and he had to do so with a permanent limp resulting from his wrestling match with God.

In John 1:42 Jesus changed Simon's ("God has heard") name to Peter ("rock" or, more properly, "stone"). Again, the name seems incongruous because this "rock" wasn't so strong when Jesus was arrested and Peter ran for his life. But Jesus knew the changes in store for this big fisherman, and He named the man accordingly. It's interesting that, occasionally, Jesus still called Peter "Simon," even after He had changed his name. I assume this was because Peter sometimes acted more like his old self than the rock God called him to be.

These changed names and changed people are prime examples of Ephesians 3: 20, 21, "Now to Him Who, by the action of His power that is at work within us, is able to carry out His purpose and do super-abundantly far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams. To Him be glory." (Amplified Bible)

The Big Surprise Perhaps the most interesting name change in the Bible is one yet to come. Revelation 2:17 says if you are in Christ, he's given you a new name, too!


So is a name important? YES! After praying on it, struggling with it, walking away from it, then studying names and how God uses His named for His glory and our greater good. I rested on a name. I want my heart, my life, my mission to be Love. Love has no borders, no boundaries, no limits. It does not keep us at home, it moves us far and wide. Love
So I rested on the final name for my blog. Mission: Love!

Love... simply Love. Love for His Kingdom. Love for His people. Love Him. Love because He first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19)

I never thought restarting my blog would lead me to seeking God to provide it's name. But this is where God has me right now, this is what he is revealing to me and where He is guiding me. Love. My mission, if I chose to accept it is simple... LOVE!