My Promise to You JesusSample

His Name’s Sake

“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” Psalms 23:3 (ESV)

Is your name important to you? Do you want it to be respected? Do you want your name to represent honor and trust? Do you want it to be a good remembrance to people who knew you and for it to live on with respect after you are gone? If any of you say no to these questions, you might want to go elsewhere, for you will not understand where I’m going with this. In fact, you might have some deep issues that need some help, for most people desire to be known in such a manner. But I’ll say this. At least you are honest about yourself.

Many people do not deserve to be honored as such, even though they promote themselves to be good and trustworthy. Some are as phony as a three-dollar bill. For example, I knew of a ruthless Klansman in my hometown in Mississippi who murdered a man by shooting him in the back with a rifle. The murdered man worked as a guard at the Masonite plant back in 1967. This Klansman also burned down the houses of many black families and conspired to murder others, for his racial hatred was great, and yet, on his gravestone in 1979, they wrote, “Asleep in Jesus.” Did I tell you that he thought he was doing God’s work as he did the dastardly things he did? I think this would have a better inscription for his gravestone:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23

What’s my point? If we normally want to protect our name and have it remembered with affection and honor, can we understand that God would also want it? I think protecting His name and reputation is far more important to Him than protecting His honor, though honor is important to Him. I think it is because He wants His name to be known as trustworthy, loving, and gracious and that He keeps His promises. Now, this can be a problem for us if we don’t understand God’s grace and ability to forgive the worst of people as He can. It’s a problem for me in ways like it was for Jonah. I will explain.

Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and didn’t want God to save them. When God told him to go to Nineveh to preach repentance or else the people there would be destroyed, Jonah fled in the opposite direction because He knew God would forgive the repentant sinner. God had a reputation for that, and Jonah didn’t want the people of Nineveh to live. He wanted God to destroy them, for, in his estimation, they deserved it. He saw them as murderers and scoundrels, and yet, was he not the same by trying to keep salvation from them? God won that contest as He packaged up Jonah and delivered him by Fish Express to the shores that would lead to Nineveh. The message was preached by Jonah. The people repented, and God forgave them. God lived up to His reputation, and that is a big reason why He protects His name. For our benefit, He does, for we need to know that He is a just, merciful, and gracious God who welcomes the repentant sinner. Do you understand why God said many times that He would do what He said He would do for “His name’s sake?” It was about a reputation that He keeps His word, and He wants us to know this now.

Now, why does this give me a problem? Honestly? The worthless Klansman that I speak of likely played a part in hurting families that I knew personally. I saw the pain and damage to property that he and men like him brought to my hometown and families there. Like Jonah, I didn’t want the man to experience God’s forgiveness. I wanted God’s wrath on him. But God has a reputation for being a God of grace, and I know from my own personal experience with Him and my junk that He forgives and saves the most worthless of people. He might have even saved that man in the end, and that would be good. The man might have repented and asked God to forgive him, which He would have given to him based on God's reputation. God has a reputation for giving grace to all who seek it and changing us so completely that one like that man that I detest could now write this devotional to you about God’s grace to him.

As I end this series about God’s promises and His reputation of being a promise keeper, it is important for us to understand why He keeps His promises. It is because it is who He is. He is truthful to His character and His name. We can depend on Him because of it. He is not flighty or fickle. He is faithful and consistent, often being described as a “Rock, a Fortress, a Horn of Salvation, a High Tower." These descriptions imply a prevailing strength, protection, and a safe retreat and help. It implies dependability and faithfulness. These are things that He promises to us, His children if we are willing to take them.

In closing, I will say that if you are not taking what God is offering to you with His promises, you will have great regret when you face Him in heaven. When he asks you why you didn’t take all He wanted to give to you to bless your life, how are you going to answer Him? Why not change that now?