naming rights

"Len", "Leonard", "Lenny"

"You're a good-for-nothing"

"You're the perfect child"

"You hold our family together"

"You're a disgrace"

Your name, your given name, as well as those nicknames given to us by others, are powerful.  A name can affirm us, encourage us, even inspire us; or it can degrade us, discourage us, or burden us.  Through the years, you and I been called many names, some of which we receive with gratitude and hope, others with resignation and dread.

God alone has our true naming rights.  He made this clear when Zechriah and Elizabeth had a promised son named, not Zechariah as would have been customary, but John (Luke 1:63); and when Mary and Joseph's unexpected son was called Jesus (Luke 1:31).  Jesus called Simon "Peter", the "rock", who would fish for his confession in others and on which Jesus would build His Church (Matthew 16:18).  Jesus called James and John the "sons of thunder", whose strong-willed approach would be transformed by the Prince of Peace (Mark 3:17).

And so God has named you, in your being born into a family that has your last name (Ephesians 3:15).  This was no accident.  And He has "called you by name, [saying] you are Mine" (Isaiah 43:1).  This has been His intention all along.  He knows you by name, and gives you a "new name ... that no one knows except the one who receives it" (and that would be you, BTW - Revelation 2:17).  

So listen carefully for Him to call you by name, and let Him dismiss any other names which have degraded, negated, discouraged, or burdened you.  And listen for that new name which is waiting for you, and for you alone to receive, as you call Him in prayer by that most beautiful name, the Name of "Jesus".