Consider your name. Your name. It has been yours since the beginning and will be with you till you see Jesus. Many others may share the same name, but you uniquely portray your name in an inexpressible way. Do you remember when you were younger and your mom or dad would call your name? Call your name to come say goodbye before they went off to work. Call your name to do your chores. Call your name to put on your church clothes. Call your name to stop fighting with siblings or other relatives. They called it so many times and in so many ways, and may have become just flat annoying. Sometimes you wished they wouldn't call your name. Like I have thought it would be easier to not be called or invited here... and that alone shows how incredibly blessed I am to be called, wanted and loved by the ones that know me most.
Have you ever wondered what your name means? I am confident that the names we possess are 100% ordained by God. It is no mistake. Each one of us are wonderfully and beautifully made in the image of God, therefore our names scream the divinely creative and holy hands of God himself.
My name is Chloe... the house of Chloe in 1 Corinthians. Her house was one of a kind and one of unity and of grace. "...that there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgement." 1 Cor 1:10
The concept of unity in Christ and unity with the body of Christ has always really marked me. It helps me remember the kind of person I want to be day in and day out. Not being one that is okay with division or misalignment, but one that fights for, honors and treasures the unity of relationship with others... and with Jesus. Dwelling in the House of the Lord every moment. Friends, what does your name mean? How is God using your name to shape you into becoming whole in Jesus Christ? I pray the message of your God given name marks you, molds you and clearly reveals the work of God in you and his magnanimous love for you.
With the celebration of the resurrection, I have been blown away by the intricate words and movements in scripture. It reads, "...but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and one at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away, " she said, "and I don't know where they have put him. " At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turn toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means teacher).
~John 20:11-16
Friends, even when you go through seasons where you disregard your name. You wish not to be called. Not to be invited because with it comes responsibilities or obligation that you wish to forego. But let me remind you, your name has value. You have immense value. In the midst of life, I pray you see the goodness of God in the land of the living because Jesus is still calling names. He is the God that made the heavens and the earth, he restores, redeems, forgives, loves, heals, calls things that are not as though they were. Today, may you not blink and may you not mistake him for the gardener but hear him call you out of the crowd. Hear his footsteps when he walks into the room. Hear his voice when he speaks. Lord, never stop calling our names in all seasons, you are alone good.
Praise God for we have seen the Lord. And testify that it is so.
He is risen indeed.
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