February 15: OUR NEW NAME

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. KJV Revelation 2:17
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. KJV Revelation 3:12
God loves us too much to leave us as weak, untrustworthy, inconsistent failures. The only way He can assure we will become what He desires for us is to make us like His Son. And because we bear the image of the Son, we shall also bear the name of the Son. God's plan for us is to give us a new image, to make us over into the image of His Son; then He stamps His name upon us.
Furthermore, we will be so very proud to bear the name of our Elder Brother, Jesus. Much like the child emulating his older brother, we desire to be like Jesus. Someday, according to the above words from the Revelation and from the following passages as well, everything will be new, different, righteous, and pure.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2 NIV)

A father and his young son were walking down the streets of Chicago. Their walk took them past the place where a skyscraper was being constructed. Glancing up, they saw men at work on a high story of the building. "Father," said the little boy, "What are those little boys doing up there?" "Those are not little boys, son. They're grown men." "But why do they look so small?" "Because they're so high," his father answered. After a pause the boy asked, "Then, Father, when they get to heaven there won't be anything left of them, will there?" Source Unknown.

This young lad stumbled onto a significant reality. The nearer we come to Christ the less others see of us and the more they see of Christ. I wrote a poem for my parents on their 50th anniversary which illustrates this point. It ended with this phrase:


When two persons, walking hand in hand
Stroll into the setting sun,
Just before they fade in the fleeting rays,
Those two appear as one.
—Norman R. Lindsay
THINK ABOUT IT.

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