Please remind me…
I used to be good at remembering names! When I was a Ward Sister at Crawley Hospital, I would greet my patients at the beginning of a shift and would pretty well remember nearly all of them straight away. It was probably a bit easier in ‘those’ days, as we tended to use Mr and Mrs…Now though, I may have to stop and think and find using the alphabet helpful as a prompt, even word associations, which I could never see the point of back then!! I am told ‘it’s an age thing’ – well really!
Our parents will have chosen our names for a variety of reasons: it might have been a family name or a name they liked the sound. Perhaps it was a popular name at the time or something completely different. They might have chosen it for its meaning and it makes interesting reading seeing the different meanings of names. We may or may not like our names and might use a middle name or a nickname instead.
In the Bible, names were very important and chosen because of their meanings: Adam – man of the earth; Moses - delivered from the water;
Peter - rock; Esther - star. Jesus, which means ‘The Lord saves’, has numerous names: Christ – The anointed One; Immanuel – God with Us; Redeemer – sets free. God Himself has countless names: El Shaddai – Lord God Almighty; I Am; Adonai – Lord/Master; Jehovah-Jireh – The Lord our Provider…
The Bible tells us God knows each of our names: Isaiah 49:16 ‘See I have written your name on the palms of my hands’ NLT. Isaiah 43:1 ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’ ESV How amazing is that – the Creator of the universe has called us, names us, loves us and cares for us. To those who have called on His name, He gives us an identity; an identity as belonging to God as His son or daughter – a child of God: 1 John3:1 ‘How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!’ NIV If you know the Lord Jesus and trust in Him as your Lord and Saviour, your name is also written in the Book of Life. Jesus himself tells us we can rejoice that our names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20
So if I, or anyone else might be experiencing this phenomenon ‘it’s an age thing’ and we need a gentle reminder of your name, remember - Our Heavenly Father never forgets our names!
Hilary Smith