What’s In a Name?

How many people do you know that have a nickname? I have to be careful here because some of those names are not always kind. And some people are tagged with nicknames they don't like. Did you know that changing a person's name can sometimes cause them to see in themselves what they could not see beforehand?

In the Bible, God sometimes changed people's names. He renamed Abram, “Exalted Father,” to Abraham, “Father of a Multitude.” Jesus saw Simon, whose name means “a stone” and renamed him Peter, “a large bedrock.” Jesus saw in him something more than he was. He had plans for Peter, and Peter lived up to his calling.

What does God want to call us? His child. And the choice is ours. Remember what one man said, “It's not what people call us that matters. It's what we answer to that counts.”