Asking someone their name is probably the first thing we do on meeting a person. We use names to identify and separate from others. It’s always a magical moment when a child learns to speak a name for the first time, signifying a growing understanding and the beginning of two-way relationships.
Dr Kate Granger, a 31 year old doctor suffering from terminal stomach cancer, became aware through her own illness of what it was like to be a patient, rather than a doctor. She started a campaign called ‘Hello, my name is…’ whereby she urged doctors to introduce themselves properly to patients, because she believed a confident introduction is the first step to providing compassionate care and is often all it takes to put patients at ease and make them feel relaxed at potentially distressing and difficult times. We cope much better with individual people and not nameless, faceless bureaucracy.
In the Bible, names are extremely significant. Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah; Jacob became Israel. It is vital that we know who we are in God and are secure in the identity He gives us. Matthew West’s song ‘Hello, my name is…‘ reminds us of the names we may well be more familiar with: regret, lies, deceit, worthless. Now, however, we have been given a new identity in God and our name has been changed.
‘I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind:
The one who makes all things new
Has proven it’s true.
Just take a look at my life.
Hello, my name is child of the one true King.
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free.
“Amazing Grace” is the song I sing.
Hello, my name is child of the one true King.’ (‘Hello, My Name is…’, Matthew West)
Rev 2:17 has the amazing promise ‘To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.‘ God knows us personally and has a new name for each one of us. In the meantime, let’s only allow the names He gives us to be our names. No other identity must define us; instead, we must learn to pray ‘Let me see myself through who You are’ (‘Restore Me’, Kutless)
