Name Maker

Names are important. The rebel alliance wouldn’t have been nearly as intimidated by Darth Patsy. When God gave Adam the responsibility to name all the animals, it wasn’t to give him busywork because he kept asking God annoying questions. I think Adam named them according to what he saw in them, in their nature. When you name a child, you choose something with good meaning, something powerful, beautiful, or honoring of family, because that name has a tremendous influence on how he or she will see themselves, and consequently, who they’ll become. Some like to be unique, but you probably wouldn’t name your kid Gilligan Sasquatch just to be different.

In the Bible, Jacob’s name essentially meant “second place, but scheming for first.” Lovely name for a child. But when he was determined enough to be rid of that identity by wrestling a supernatural being for a new one, God renamed him “Israel,” which means “prince” (Gen. 32). Names can be changed. Not just the official names of people and places, but the everyday names you give yourself and your circumstances.

What are you naming yourself? Are you in the habit of calling yourself “stupid,” “idiot,” “failure,” or something worse? Even if no one else views you negatively, seeing yourself that way is debilitating. You’re cutting your identity off from who you really are in God, and stuffing it into a sad little box in the corner. What are you naming your circumstances? “Impossible,” “unfair,” and “overwhelming” are thoughts that go through all our heads, but you don’t have to make room for them to stay. You have the power in Jesus to name everyone and everything as he sees them.

You are not stupid. You’re a brilliant child of God, completely at peace in him, and able to make excellent decisions using that peace as your guide. You’re able to receive his love, joy, patience, kindness, and hope, and overflow them into every situation you encounter today. Your circumstances do not control you. They don’t define you. Each one is an opportunity for God to demonstrate who he is, and who you’re becoming in him. You are who God says you are. You’re not being overwhelmed by life, you’re celebrating it in his presence.