Many of us do not realize that we go through life with three different names. There is, of course, the one your parents gave you, either when you were born or christened, depending on your culture. Your second name is your reputation which you develop day by day. However, your most important name is the one that God gives you.
You could say that the name God gives you is your character. And that is because someone once said that character is what you do when no one is watching. They should have said that character is what you do when no one except God is watching. You see, God is always watching us and weighing our actions. He sees you where it matters most when no human being is seeing you.
The very first time we see Jesus giving someone a name other than his birth certificate is with Peter. Poor man, he must have been flabbergasted when Jesus called him Cephas. Jesus gave Peter that name because He was going to remake the shaky man into a rock. Cephas is another way of describing a rock and it was his most important name. Not only because it spoke to his future on earth but because it spoke to his future in eternity. Similarly, God has an eternal name for each of us. It may be that like Peter – we shall be surprised when we hear it in Heaven – if we get there.
Like Peter, Your Most Important Name is Eternal
Some of us might even be shocked because it will be a bad one. Unfortunately, that is your most important name because it will determine where you spend eternity. If you have a good reputation in the church but a bad name with God, guess what, you are going to hell. But as you continue to study the word of God, I pray you will not end up in hell. The only way to avoid hell is to accept the gift of God – Jesus Christ – and make Him your Lord.
Job also had an eternal description, the one God used on him. Job was the name his parents gave him. His reputation was a blameless and upright man and one who feared God and shunned evil. Please pay close attention to Job because unlike most of us, his second and third names were the same.
His third name was “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.” That is what God testified about Job, exactly as his reputation was. God also testified that Job was His servant and that there was no one like him on earth. Oh, that God would describe each of us in such terms. That our most important name should match the one that people know us by, our reputation.
Alas, it is not usually so as we see in Revelation. ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” Ouch! If that is talking about you, it means your most important name is terrible even if the church hails you.
Thank God For Second Chances
Mercifully, God gives us a second chance to fix our eternal names but it comes with conditions. God promises to give a new name but only to those who are prepared to hear what the Spirit says. Before we go to the second condition, let us ask ourselves: Do we even know the Holy Spirit? He is a gift of Jesus and so, to know the Holy Spirit, you must be in Jesus. You must have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That is when you have a chance of hearing what the Spirit is saying.
Secondly, you must be prepared to overcome. That implies a battle. You know that quitters are never winners. That means that no matter what satan throws at you, you do not quit from following Jesus. Then and only then will God give you a new name. Here is how He says it. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone. And on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”
Your most important name, the eternal one that God calls you is probably shattered. But you now have a second chance. Don’t blow it. Accept Jesus, become friendly with the Holy Spirit so He will talk to you. Finally, stand your ground in the battle and overcome. Then God will give you a new name, your most important name.
Maranatha!
