“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.”
- Isaiah 43:1b
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the name Reginald Kenneth Dwight doesn’t mean anything to you. The same goes for David Robert Jones, Caryn Johnson, and Dana Elaine Owens. But I imagine you do know those people by these names: Elton John, David Bowie, Whoopi Goldberg, and Queen Latifah.
You see these kinds of name changes from time to time, especially in entertainment circles. In order to stand out, a person will trade their birth name for something more memorable. After all, nobody cares much about Samuel Clemens’ works—but everybody knows Mark Twain!
Similarly, the Bible is full of characters who were born with one name, but became better known by another. More often than not, their name changes were about more than preference; they symbolized a new, God-given identity.
Abram became Abraham, meaning “father of many nations,” when God made a covenant with him. Jacob, after a wrestling match with a divine being, became Israel, “one who struggles with God.” Simon the fisherman became Peter the apostle when Jesus declared that his profession of faith would be the rock upon which the church would be built. And Saul, a zealous Pharisee, began to use his Roman name, Paul, when the Holy Spirit made evident that his ministry would be primarily to Gentiles.
Nowadays, first names are often based on things like family history and how they sound alongside the surname—the etymological meaning behind your name is often more trivial than intentional. But if the Lord changed your name, who might you become? What are you prioritizing, and what is the message your life conveys? How might your identity be summarized in one word?
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” Shakespeare wrote. What kind of witness does your name have?
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