Over the last several months I've been very intrigued with God's name(s), the power of said name, the meaning, the importance, and more. In my by no means exhaustive journey God has revealed three things about Himself ... grace, presence, and a relational focus.
If you think of God's name what do you think of? LORD, Jehovah, the Holy Spirit, El Shaddai, the Great I Am ... the list goes on. For me the first thing that comes to mind is Jesus, God in human flesh. Could God be any more present with us than as Jesus? Isn't Jesus the Divine at His most relational, coming to earth and eating, drinking, talking, and walking alongside humanity? Is there anyone filled with more grace than Jesus living, dying, resurrecting, and acting as our High Priest? Yet, while these tell a huge story, they aren't the whole story.
Have you ever had your name made fun of? Isn't that the worst? Likewise, isn't it annoying if someone consistently calls you the wrong name? Ironically, I've been convinced by several sources that we have a name of God wrong, specifically Jesus. In His day, from what I understand, the way people said his name in their native tongue (Hebrew) was Yeshua (Yesh-oo-a). This got translated into Greek and then transliterated into Latin, and the English translation from Latin is Jesus. But, if you actually translated His name directly from Hebrew into English it would be Joshua. So, really we should call Jesus, Joshua.
Now, when people have similarly butchered my name, it usually makes me at least annoyed, often angry if it's deliberate. I've never had much grace when it comes to people purposefully getting my name wrong, or worse making fun of it. "Lang, bang, fo, Fang, banana, bama ..." = "grrrrrrr" from me. How about you? But does God get mad at us for getting a name of His (and a big one at that!) wrong? I don't think so. I think He shows us great grace. In fact, in Genesis God graciously allows Hagar (a servant afraid and on the run at the time) to make her own name for Him, "the God who sees me" (Genesis 16:13, NLT).
That said, I wonder if I show the same grace to others concerning Jesus. Do they have to call him J-E-S-U-S to believe in the Christ? Does grace mean some people can call Jesus/Joshua something else (or not even have a name for Him at all) and still believe in Him? I don't have an answer, but I think it's an interesting idea.
So, I'd say that at the heart of God's name(s) is grace. What do you think?
More to come on the name of God and presence and relationship soon ...
I love this post! I totally agree. I often think all the names we use for God/Jesus (Lord, Savior, Healer, Redeemer, etc.) are names we use as you would if you were calling your wife, honey or sweetheart. I had a challenging conversation with my brother a few years ago over this very topic. He insisted we call God by Jehovah as that he said that is His name and it would be disrespectful to call him anything else. I, too, believe God has incredible grace for us in this regard. I would never turn someone away if they continued to say my name wrong. Maybe His grace come from knowing our true heart if we are making the attempt to reach out to Him even if we totally fall short of getting it right...much like a young child....
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more, Lang! =)
Thanks, Michelle. Similarly to your brother, I have my moments of getting something stuck in my head as "THE" answer ... fortunately God's grace overcomes ... :)
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