WHAT'S IN A NAME...? (disagreeing with Shakespear...😆)

I don't know about you, but I have had my doubts in the past about some of God's promises...😬 Since, I have discovered that, more often than not, it is my own lack of understanding of His Words that is the true culprit. The Bible doesn't say for nothing:

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Hosea 4:6.

We misunderstand many of God's promises and are consequently disappointed when He doesn't seem to deliver. How arrogant of us, though, to doubt God without asking ourselves whether the fact that we don't see these promises fulfilled, are maybe simply because we do not comply with the set conditions...?

The promise I want to look at today is when Jesus said that He would be with us if we gathered in His name.

Let's look at Matthew 18:20. In the NIV it reads as follows:

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.""

Now let's look at it in The Passion Translation:

"For wherever two or three come together in honor of my name, I am right there with them"

Do you notice a difference?

The Greek word used for the word name is onoma, and its Hebrew equivalent is shem. Interestingly enough the word shem more literally means "character". According to Hebrew tradition, the name of a person reflects or defines their character (whereas our culture simply uses it as a means of identification). This is the reason why God has changed the names of people such as Abraham and Sarah in order to reflect the character change He had forged within them!

A great example is Jacob, which means "he deceives". God changed his name to Israel meaning "God will fight". Thus, from someone who had to deceive others to obtain what he wanted, he became the father of a nation who had God fighting for them. And they prospered. Isn't that amazing?

So we see that, looking at the above verse from the perspective of the original meaning of the word name, it would appear that "to gather in the name of Jesus / God", can not mean a mere coming together of 2 or 3 people... It is coming together in such a way that the character of God's name is reflected!

If we should do that, if we should come together as individuals who are individually living in a way that reflects the character of God, the power of that coming together would be beyond measure!!

The problem is that we seldom do...

How many people do you know who strive to live according to the true character of Jesus? Can you say that it is your own motivation to do so 24/7...?

Now you may ask: is that even possible to accomplish, seeing that we are so fallible...?

The answer is: yes, it is possible ! Not because we are capable, but because God is!

He is able to keep us from falling (Jude 24-25) and if we choose to devote ourselves to living according to His character, He will give us the Grace to do so!

The process?

It begins with a mere choice.

It is attained by studying (getting to know) the character of God and measuring our character against His so as to make adaptations.

It is sustained by remaining in a close relationship with Him.

To give you a little extra "food 4 thoughts" it is interesting to look at the definition of onoma - as explained by HELPS Word-studies:

3686 ónoma – name; (figuratively) the manifestation or revelation of someone's character, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others. Thus "praying in the name of Christ" means to pray as directed (authorized) by Him, bringing revelation that flows out of being in His presence. "Praying in Jesus' name" therefore is not a "religious formula" just to end prayers (or get what we want)!

May you be motivated more than ever to truly get to know God and to ardently pursue conforming to His likeness!

(Giving credit to Bruce Allen who's teaching inspired me to write on this topic)