Read the Name on Your Driver's License. It May Be Temporary
“A good name is better than a precious ointment." Ecclesiastes 7:1a (ESV)
"A good name is more desirable than great riches..." Proverbs 22:1a (NIV)
Unless you grew up as a hermit, somebody at middle school made fun of your name. Your name could be practically perfect in nearly every way, but somebody probably figured out a way to make you wish you had another name. Kids are often mean and only a few things were off limits to the bullies, class clowns and the everyday mockers. Names were mocked with regularity. Fortunately, the name wars allowed for mockers to be equally mocked. Very few parents could find that mix of first, middle and last names that were safe.
When I was six years old, I became convinced that I should be called Jerry. I wore my parents out pushing my great idea, but they were unmoved. Most of us kept our names and eventually we came to appreciate them.
But I had some friends who did change their names. A few with good reason. Others grew bored with one or more of their names, while others wanted (and some needed) a fresh start. Do a quick web search of the names of kids of celebrities. Yikes. Some of those names are so bad that many of us can only conclude that their celebrity parents are meaner than the meanest of kids in eighth grade. And maybe they are. But I suspect that the obvious extra dose of narcissism embedded in their parents’ publicity craving characters has a lot to do with it.
In Book 1, Kaiyo, Goliath explains to Kaiyo about wanting to be known as Goliath solely because his new family, a family who loved him, gave him that name. It had become, he said, “sweet to the sound.”
As with Tracker the wolf, we never learn Goliath’s old name. Whatever it was, it no longer mattered. In Book 3, Defectors, Gracie’s name is changed to Grace. The change was not made by her but by God through the fearsome cherub Meginnah. God has done this before. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (father of many nations). Sarah (mother of nations) started out as Sarai. Jacob was given the name Israel (he who has the power of God). Simon the disciple was renamed Peter (the Rock). God’s giving them a new name was to reveal to them something wonderful that God was doing in them. Each new name acted as daily reminders of the changes that God was causing through them as God’s instruments. And each new name revealed something that was, at first, unknown to each of them.
The names we are given are important. Names mean far more than just a way for us to be identified. If the goal were simply to identify, we might as well be given a number from a government registry. But real names become a part of who we become and good names (or names with good histories) can serve to inspire. For that reason, names are also vitally important to God too.
Remember, God knows you by your name. It has been estimated that since the beginning, over 100 billion people have lived on Earth. Whether that is true or not, the actual number is enormous. And God has, and does, know all of them. He even knows those not yet existing. The word of God speaks directly to these statements.
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:17 (NIV)
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1 (NASB)
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3 (NASB)
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father… John 10:14-15 (NASB)
And God has always known you.
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you… Jeremiah 1:5a (NASB)
Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. Isaiah 49:1b (NIV)
And he will know you for eternity.
However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Luke 10:20 (NIV)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.Revelation 20:15 (NIV)
But for those of us who love him, there is wonderful news. Each of us will be getting a new name.
To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it. Revelation 2:17 (NIV)
Why a white stone? Among other awards, victorious athletes were given a white stone which was used as an admission pass to enter the victory celebration after the games. First century Christians would understand this imagery. Christians also are about to enter into a grand celebration. As for the name on the stone, whatever that name is, it will be perfect and those who have it will love it.
Unlike the names we have now, this new name will neither be a source of unearned pride nor a name of shame earned from a lifetime here on Earth.
Instead, as Goliath said in Kaiyo, that new name will be “sweet to the sound.” Always.