God’s name is more than just the word, “Jesus.” To be sure, there are plenty of names that our God calls himself in the Bible. All the names of God are a great way for us to understand him. Think of the verses from the prophet Isaiah that are commonly used during the Christmas season, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Is suppose if we piled enough of these names on top of the next one, eventually we would develop a pretty good picture of who our God is. We have far more than a list of names.
The name of God includes everything that he says about himself – not just his name. And more importantly for our Bible study, the fact that we call ourselves Christians – that is – “little Christs” – means that we are a reflection, good or bad, on the name of our God. I will always remember leaving for a sleep over and getting the lecture from my folks. “Remember who you are!” My mom and dad wanted to instill in me that is was a privilege and a responsibility to have the name Guldberg. Depending on how I acted, people would think more or less of the rest of my family. More importantly, depending on how I acted, people would also think more or less of my God.
I don’t share this with you to cripple you as you walk out the door (or head off to your next virtual meeting). Peter writes in his first letter, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Everything you do is an opportunity for you to give God a good name! You don’t need to sing in the choir on a Sunday morning to praise God. You can live your life dedicated to his glory. That starts in the home with how you treat your family and it spills over into everything you do.
Want to hear more, including how our God wants us to approach the occult? Watch this week’s Bible class from our series, Back to the Basics: The 2nd Commandment.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.