NAME

Without names we don’t have language. Language in it’s most basic form is the naming of things and actions. Names allow us to communicate verbally or in writing to come to common ground and understanding.  It only works when we know the name and agree on its meaning. COVID-19 is a name we just learned and will never forget. 
 
I love watching shows on Egypt and how experts and archeologists can actually read the hieroglyphics as a language.  As soon as they read three horizontal squiggly lines as "water" or "river" I can see it and it makes sense.  When we learned French in school I found out that you don’t have any words that express possession.  In English, we say, “Jack’s house.”  In French you have to say, “The house of Jack.” I’m sure that if I was stuck and only knew the words for Jack and house, and put them together, I would be understood. 
 
More than that though, the name by which you are called or known is VERY important.  First there’s the meaning of your name, if it was thought out.  My first name Linda is after a love song that was popular when my parents were courting.  My dad would sing it to my mother and substitute her name, Lydia. So my first name represents the love my father expressed to my mother when I was just a ‘twinkle in my Dad’s eye’.  My middle name Ruth, was after my mother’s only younger sister whom she loved. 
 
It turns out that Linda means “pretty” in Spanish and Ruth means “companion, friend, vision of beauty” in Hebrew.  I was visiting my Brazilian neighbors in Toronto and they were going through pictures of a recent wedding and kept saying, “Ah, Linda!” which was referring to the bride as being pretty or beautiful. My mother kept me humble by sending me a name book mark embroidered with the words, “LINDA He will beautify the meek.”
 
Whole product lines exist to personalize items, from initialized mugs, to custom printed T-shirts, embroidered logos, and engraved memorabilia. You can have your name on just about anything. Inside my wedding band are the letters: NMGBIPL which means, “no more good byes in parking lots.” We got married to live together not just meet up and have to say good bye every time. It’s not my name, but I could sure identify that ring if it was ever lost or stolen. It’s as good as my name while I’m alive, but if the ring ended up in a second hand store, it’s anyone’s guess what a prospect might think the letters mean!
 
Whenever we log in or make a purchase on line, the first thing they want is our name.  If we use our credit card they want the name on the card.  We put our name on our stuff to identify it as ours and hopefully keep anyone else from taking it. We go to a wedding, conference, or banquet and we look for our name as we register, or find our place at a table.  Tagging our luggage when we travel helps identical brands of luggage not get mixed up, and if ours gets lost the airline can forward it without making us identify the contents.   
  
Our name is also our signature that certifies legal transactions.  When a woman marries and her name changes to “Mrs. So and so” her last name represents a new family line that will be her children’s sir name.  In my Rose Bush blog about community, I begin with the saying, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” And both you and I by any other name, or number, are still who we are.  Even graduates with degrees who have “doctor” as part of their name, are still who they are. 
 
The name of the top person of a corporation is the most important name in that organization. That name is behind the products, services, and guarantees as long as that signature exists to represent the bottom line of that business.  Forgiveness of our sins, and especially the sin nature we are born with, has only one name, only one top person responsible for giving us forgiveness of our sins in exchange for our total allegiance.  We then follow His ‘best practices’ because, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”Acts 4:12

The Bible states that after all is said and done there's one name that will stand above all others even in the entire universe..."That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth..." Phillipians 2:10   That's pretty much anything and everything that can be namedl 

We are also told that there is a Book of Life and our name can be in it if we are Christ followers.  It's our pass into heaven and eternity.  It's like pre-registering for a conference and believing your name will be on the list of registrants when you check in.  

COVID in some circles has had it's name changed to mean: "Christ Over Viruses, Infections, and Death."  That's a name change worth believing in. 

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