What’s in a name?
A great deal!
When high school boys were to take a basic class in cooking and homemaking, the name “Home Economics” was a turn off. For two years boys attended only grudgingly. It was not working.
The school board needed a new approach. The class was re-named Bachelor Survival andlimited to boys only. Morale soared and cheerful attendance became the normal. Ah, the power of a name.
We love the name of our Savior—Jesus. So sweet was the name of our Lord Jesus that Joseph’s sleep was undisturbed when it was announced to him. Such sleep was better than his waking (Spurgeon).
Jesus’ name tells what He does. The Holy Spirit explains the name Jesus by saying, “. . . for He shall save His people from their sins.” “Saving people from their sins” interprets Jesus.” If we do not allow Jesus to do this, His name is denied. His personal name declares His relationship with His own.
To claim association in or identification with Jesus, but not be redeemed, is like talking to Stephen Curry but refusing to talk about basketball; talking with Peyton Manning but having no interest in football. To hold on to our sin and refuse to submit our lives to Jesus Christ the Lord is to deny the meaning of His name.
Notice a startling truth that is also a gracious fact. Our point of contact with the Lord Jesus is our badness, not our goodness; our misery, not our merit; our falling, not our standing; our poverty, not our riches. We who hold the name of Jesus as sacred know we have a fallen, sinful nature and want to be saved from what that nature is constantly bringing into our lives. We want to be saved from our sins.
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