Words and names have always fascinated me. They make a sound, ring a bell, and become a current that carries me wherever they want me to go.

Names are words that indicate relationship ~ whether personal or just in passing ~ both are functional as to their influence to excite or suppress. Names stir in other souls who and what they represent.

A name in my thoughts is a visitation of that person, their personality, their beliefs, their life. If only in passing ~ whenever or wherever I have known them ~ they leave a mark on my life.

Identification
Names are the identification of the contents. We can never willingly show the entirety of our being ~ considering the depravity of our nature and the years we have lived. But we can be known for one particular thing and that one thing is memorable.

Where would we be as Jesus’ followers if He not lived up to His name ~ Jesus, meaning Salvation ~ and established as the only means of salvation (Acts 4:12).
And only He has the Words of eternal life (John 6:68).

Our own thoughts form a pattern, a plan, a possibility of spoken words and actions. They are part of the design of a spiritual landscape. Words spoken leave impressions on the hearts that hear. And our names are the label for what we leave behind.

 ^“For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,
in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
To the one we are the savour of death unto death;
and to the other the savour of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things?”
2 Corinthians 2:15-16

Dust or Fragrance
Words that are spoken are either dust and mud for people’s feet, or they are fragrance that lifts them to the heights of God’s glory. And so, when others hear our names, they respond in their spirit to what they have heard and seen.

We, as human creatures, represent either God or Satan. We are light or we are darkness. We are good or we are evil. God makes known to His people who He is and who we are as His children. Light and goodness are not our own. They are the nature and fruit of a new heart and spirit given by God to His people (Ezekiel 36:26). We experience a new birth (John 1:12-13; 3:3).

He brings us to His Word and by His Spirit births us into His family and kingdom (1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:23).  Even as we live through Jesus Christ, His Spirit works in and through us. Our thoughts and desires are changed. We are given a new design for living and a language that is different from the rest of the world. Our vocabulary is inspired by the Word of God and by His Word we are changed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We are known by our fruit. Our words and lives are the inward working of the Life of Christ within us. The birds of the air take our words and scatter the seeds where the Lord wills so as to make His name known and to produce more fruit for His kingdom.

How do others know us? How do they remember us? Are we a sweet fragrance unto life for others?

Gracious Father, Hallowed be your name ~ for we remember that you are holy, We remember you in your majesty and your glory. We are humbled by your mercy to us as lost sinners in need of grace and new life. Make us holy ~ humble us and make us the representatives of Christ that we are meant to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Fran

Image: Pixabay
Image: Pixabay