Are you a Capulet or a Montague? Or don’t you care? Does it really matter what a Rose is called? But is a name really just a label? Would a valentine’s day be quite the same if lovers gave a dozen red Lisianthus or Ranunculus?
Sometimes a name is just a label, but often it carries a context or a history or even an authority or expectation with it. One might value a degree awarded by Oxford or Cambridge a bit more highly than one awarded by the Universities of Wrexham or Bedfordshire. The name means something.
Parents usually think very carefully about the name they will give to their children – what does your name mean? But more importantly, if someone mentions your name, what do they associate it with? Mother Teresa’s life turned her name into something valuable – and there are too many candidates for the worst name in history.
The third commandment is about the Name of the Lord – don’t misuse it (Ex20:7). But what is that name to you? Is it ‘A fortified tower’ (Prov 18:10)? Is it ‘to be praised’ from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets (Ps 113:3)? Is it the power and authority of Jesus: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38)?
Raymond