Names

“The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah' (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas' (which, when translated, is Peter).  John 1:41-42

I've had a few nicknames over the years. When I was young, my friends tagged me with the name "Weeser". I have no idea why I was given that name nor do I have any idea what it means. Honestly, I'm not even sure if that's the correct spelling. In my late high school and early college years, I was "T-ster" or simply "T" for short. Those were simply taken from my first initial.

Apparently, this practice of giving nicknames wasn't new with my friends or yours. Jesus did it too. "Hey Simon, I'm calling you Cephas." The Greek version of this name, Peter, may be more familiar to us. Both of them mean the same thing ... Rock. That's kind of cool. It's interesting and maybe a little odd that he gave him the name before he did any life with him. I've come to understand this interaction as a form of vision casting. In a sense Jesus was saying, "This who you are now, but this is who you will be later." 

It leads me to wondering ... If Jesus gave you or I a name now, what would it be? What name would complete the sentence, "but you will be called ... "? In Revelation 2:17, we are told that all who overcome will receive a white stone with a new name on it. Only the person who receives it will know what it is. Interesting isn't it? In any event, be encouraged by this reality: We are not yet all that we will be. The best is yet to come!

Grace and Peace,
 
Tom Wiles
tom@fallcreekchristian.org

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