Understanding What's in a NameSample

A Spiritual Origin

Your name is part of your identity and legitimacy, and part of the proof that you’re made in the image of a personal, powerful God who weaves His purposes through all of creation with loving intention. Names are spiritual because they originated with God. Psalm 147:4 tells us that God calls every star in the endless, expanding universe by name. Naming is part of how God creates order.

God made humankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). We’re not God, but we’re like God. We carry something of His creativity and order, and the very first job God gave Adam was to name what He had made (Genesis 2:19–20). God wanted to partner with people, so He got them to understand that names are very much part of that collaborative process (hence, Adam’s career in name-giving). We still get to name things, and it’s a way of bringing practical and emotional order to our lives. We name things to acknowledge their existence. We name things so we can understand them. Naming something gives it identity, legitimacy, and purpose.

In Genesis 17:4–5 we read that, when God invited Abram (meaning "father or height") into a covenant relationship, He changed Abram’s name to Abraham (meaning "father of nations"). Sarai had her name changed to Sarah because she would be part of the covenant relationship too (Genesis 17:15). God had placed within Abraham and Sarah the potential to bless the whole world, and by changing their names, He was calling forth the people He’d created them to be. Perhaps when you became a Christian, things were added and taken away from your identity. Coming to faith can feel like a name-changing experience for us too.

Take a moment to remind yourself that every name communicates something about nature, character, quality, substance, authority, rank, and power. Your name is a representation of who you are. When someone hears your name, different attributes or roles will come to mind. Thankfully, you have the choice to live in such a way that when your name comes up, people associate good things with it. We see in scripture that God intentionally named the stars, the planets, and the angels. He changed the name of certain people to clarify their role in life. Most wonderful of all, God introduced Himself to humanity as I am–the all-sufficient one. His absolute supremacy is contained in that name, and He is worthy of our worship.