Your New Name

“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed”. Genesis 32:28

Have you ever wanted to change your name and move to a new town where no one would know you? You would start your life over. You would walk down the streets without people knowing your past mistakes. You would look happy. You would feel free.

Today, it’s possible to change our name, our appearance, and even get a new passport. We can become a completely new person and a new identity. 

I always wanted to have a new name. I would come up with a nick-name I wanted to use on my social media so people would know me as that person and not who I really was. I didn’t like the town where I lived. I didn’t like my life. I longed for a new beginning. Little did I know that I would receive all that one day in Jesus. 

Today, as a Christian, I am very proud of who I am because I know exactly who I am in Christ. I know what He has done for me, because He loved me. I must be of a great value for Him to love me that much to volunteer to die for me. 

If you ever wanted to change who you are and you have a unique name too. You are a Christian. You are royalty. You are a child of the King. You are His image-bearer. You are so special, you don’t even comprehend that. You are so precious for the Lord that He has died for you.

“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

1 Corinthians 6:11.

Sometimes, you do not feel like you are royalty, do you? You, perhaps, even wonder what difference it makes to be a Christian, if you feel the same way unbelievers do! Or even worse… Your life doesn’t seem to be better than others. You feel pressured by the opinions of others. You feel like it’s a burden to be different, not to fit in, to be ridiculed, and even rejected… Jesus was rejected too. He warned us that we would be rejected just like He had been first.

You see, your identity is not given to you to feel good about yourself! It’s given to you to know who you are when you are living in the world of sin. It’s for you to know that you are not defined by it. You are not your past mistakes. You are not who the saturated in sin society says you are, but who God says you are.

The Word of God says you are new in Christ now. You are cleansed. You are justified. Believe the truth of God.

Only knowing who we are in Christ, and that we are different from the world, helps us live the life God created for us.