Tag: Galatians

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Called by Your Name

There is nothing more intimate than either giving your own or taking someone else’s name. It implies complete trust, total devotion, and displays to the world a staggering declaration of merged identity. Names help to identify us. True identity, however, goes deeper than our names. Our fundamental identity can be found at the very Beginning, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Not only did God create us in His image, but He chooses to call us by His name (Daniel 9:19, Jeremiah 15:16). God, the King of Kings, calls us by His name.

While God’s name itself is somewhat mysterious, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) to Moses, He clearly wanted to be known to us as a deeply relational God. He also told Moses that He is “. . . ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob . . . thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15). Whether we know His actual name or not, God identifies Himself to humanity as the God who has meaningful, faithful relationship with us.

Appealing to “the name of the Lord,” or to His character, is first mentioned in Scripture in relation to Abram (Abraham), in Genesis 12:8. This is shortly after the children of man’s Tower of Babel efforts failed in trying to “make a name for [them]selves” (Genesis 11:4). God then promised Abram that He would “make [his] name great, so that [he] will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). No one can make a name for themselves on their own strength or efforts. Who we are relies entirely on who God is, thus only the names and purposes that He establishes will be able to stand.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). Jesus fulfilled the promises that God made to Abraham, so that we all can be called by God’s name, heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17), sons and daughters of God the King. This is what I think of when I hear the phrase “identity in Christ.”

When we know the name we carry, we can only respond in humility and love for the Giver of our name. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We find incredible grace and protection in God’s name, something the Old Testament prophets knew to long for, “…only let us be called by your name, take away our reproach” (Isaiah 4:1). Jesus’ name covers us, all of our identity, before God. Being saved from sin and death is to be called by Jesus’ name. In Jesus we are dead to sin, and alive in Him (Romans 6:11, 1 Corinthians 15:22). If you are a believer in Jesus, “. . . 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). There is True life in Jesus’ name. Halleluiah!

Our identities are secure in who God is, going back to the promise He made to Abram that “. . . in [him] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9). God has been faithful to fulfill that promise; it benefits us today as it’s not only brought Abraham’s blood descendants into covenant relationship with Him, but all people. Jesus’ sacrifice restores what sin distorted for us and our identity; in Christ we are made new, according to the will and loving purpose of the One who gave us our True name in the first place.

No matter what we’ve done, or what we may be going through, God loves us, relates Himself to us, identifies with us, and continues to make a Way for us to take joy in being called by His name. Amen.

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved‘” (Romans 10:13).

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).

“And whatever you do in, word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

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Dealing with Pride

“what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). Recently I found myself in a situation where I chose to sin. Of course, this was just one of the many times this has happened. Willfully sinning is really confusing, and more people need to talk about this; it messes with any feelings of pride in myself.    

When I don’t feel right with myself, it’s difficult to keep hold of what’s true. My mind starts to crowd with these lies of how God is disappointed in me, is distant from me, and wants nothing to do with me anymore. How maybe my identity in Him was all just something I made up in my mind. This is really not okay. 

In the midst of this pride-shattering moment, it became quite impossible for me to imagine that He could love me in spite of sin, and yet He does. In fact, He does just the same as if I had never sinned even once. Amazing grace, indeed. So amazing, in fact, that it can be difficult to accept at all.  

Pride

I, like pretty much everybody, sinned against God simply because I wanted to do what I wanted to do. The sin of pride is and can be a wake-up call to look at and watch more carefully what goes on in our hearts and souls. My conscience was firing, my soul needed to get right with God again, and I had to confess my sin. I needed to repent all over again. After wrestling with the fact that I had followed sin instead of God, I realized that I was getting too comfortable. In my pride, my thought was actually that I was close to being past willful sin; but the Bible says that “no one may boast before Him” (1 Corinthians 1:29). 

Even after I repented, I felt it wasn’t enough. I was still upset with myself. God had forgiven me, but I hadn’t been able to forgive myself. Friends, that is pride in a sneaky form. Instead of fully accepting God’s love and forgiveness, I was trying to shoulder the burden of sin myself. In withholding forgiveness for ourselves like I did, we actually think there’s something more we can do to make up for it. In not surrendering fully to God’s forgiveness, we try to take this sin of ours into our own hands. This is pride. 

This is a complicated subject, so don’t mistake my meaning; what we do in our lives–does matter. Sin matters. One of the fruits of the Spirit is love. Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). We are certainly meant to live in a way that follows the Way of Jesus, who was sinless. In James, actions are called “works”: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). Faith comes first, for actions flow from faith–the fruit of our lives, but what we do and what we choose, matters. However, nothing we do can make up for our sin.    

Sin 

Jesus paid it all for us. It is prideful to try to make up for it in any other way besides how He calls us to–to leave our life of sin. 

Willful sins torture the conscience of those committed to the Way of Jesus. They still can creep up on us, as we are still here on the fallen earth. We still are made of dust. We have one foot here and one readied for the age to come. We have been set free from sin by Jesus, but at any moment we can choose to step outside God’s will to do our own will and sin against Him. 

Sometimes the only way to know what sin is, is because of what the Bible says. My own thoughts and feelings change constantly. My moral compass was shattered at the Fall. It’s hard to know the Truth about many things, and it can appear as though every person has their own version of truth. But actually this cultural catchphrase “live your truth” or “follow your truth” is saying that everyone has their own beliefs about what the truth is. Beliefs do not change the Truth.  

Of course, what we believe is important; for more on that see my post How Belief is Our Most Powerful Tool. But I am saying that believing something doesn’t make it so. 

Hope for self-hate

I debated whether to mention self-hate, but just like willful sin, I feel that it needs to be addressed if we’re talking about a life lived in freedom. Self hate; that point at which I mess up and I’m just disgusted with myself and how miserably I failed to fear God…yep, that was my week. Self-hate is a very real thing and I wanted to share that I experience this because I don’t think I’m the only one. I’m here to say that there is still hope, even in a place of self-hate.

Yes, we sin. But that just gives us another opportunity to talk to God. Another reason to repent, to put our faith in God all over again, and process what went wrong with Him. To let Him make something good grow in us that maybe wasn’t developed yet. Or even to weed out something that no longer needs to be there. He gives us all fresh opportunities to work through our sins with Him, confess them, and let them go thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice. Praise God that “his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Yes, you will sin, but there is always mercy available to you in Christ Jesus our King. There is hope because “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). Sin no longer has the last word over us, because Christ made a way.  

Where our hearts lie can be seen through the fruit of our lives, but there is nothing you can do to separate you from the love of God (Romans 38:38-39). He longs to be chosen by us. He longs to be allowed into our hearts. He makes all things new (Revelation 12:5). Even sin. Even self-hate. Even the pride we struggle to let go of. 

Humility

God is working on my ego in this, my latest particular experience with sin. Ironically, this is actually something I asked Him to do; I prayed that I wanted my ego to be eliminated, kaput, bye-bye. Be careful what you pray for! I believe that my failed test is helping my prayer to be answered. This experience exposed my pride and revealed beyond a doubt that I am no better than anyone else. That it’s all Him, it’s none of me. No amount of hard work, self-determination, sense of righteousness, or even how close I “felt” to God lately makes me a good person in the slightest. Only God is Good (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). None of that stuff can save me or you from sin. Only Jesus can do that, so that no one may boast. Only Jesus. 

Thanks be to God.

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness (2 Corinthians 11:30).

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14). 

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