For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. (Isa. 45:4 ESV)
Names
The power to name something is incredible.
Yes, it sounds like psychobabble. But I am convinced that the name/thing correlation is strong. Particularly in personal matters.
Is the nerd nerdy because he was called a nerd? Or was he called a nerd because he was nerdy? Is your dog a dumb dog because you call him that, daily? Or is he called dumb daily because he is dumb? I think it is both.
Perhaps I never exerted myself in sports because I was convinced I was “slow.” Perhaps you don’t show emotions because you’ve been told you were unemotional. Perhaps you are afraid because people named you, “fearful.”
But the real power comes not from the name giver, but the name receiver.
I’m not, of course, referring to official names. I don’t think that “Faith” is naturally more faithful, or “Claire” is automatically more bright. But descriptive adjectives, labels about personality and expectations, and even our roles are effected by that correlation.
The names you choose to believe are names that become accurate. A sixth-grade history teacher told me I was a Great Historian. A Middle School teacher told me I was “wise-beyond-my-years.” Friends in high school told me I was funny. And those names stuck to my psyche because I chose to let them. And my life was changed.
So what names do you believe about yourselves?
God says you are fixed, and no longer broken.
God says you are His child, not an outcast.
God says you are loved.
God says you are precious.
God says you are able.
God says you are free.
God says you are… His.
Who do you say that you are?