12th July 2023

What is in a name?

I am renewing a project in my yard this summer. It had gotten way overgrown and in need of a new start. As I was washing some of the bricks that I had put around a small water feature, I was reminded of the names stamped on some of them. I am not sure where these bricks came from; I no longer remember. I just know I inherited them somehow and I love the old worn-out ones with the names stamped on them; they are barely readable now. One has the name A.P. Green Empire E. stamped on it. The only thing I have found so far on this, are a lot of pictures of these bricks and the fact that they were made by a Scottish brick company. Names stamped on the bricks tell of the maker, the families, yards, and towns where they were made. You could judge their quality, whether it was good or not by the names on them. One of the bricks I found may have been made in the early 1900’s.

What is in a name? As I thought about this, and how these old bricks have endured for all of these years, I see them as good. They have endured longer that I have, though we both are looking pretty worn out with time. That thought drew me to the one who is truly “good,” and that is God. The things he made and did, were very good (Genesis1:31). I cannot always say that; I have burnt a meal or two. He is the good shepherd (John 10:1, 11, 14). Having raised sheep for several years, I learned that this was not an easy job. You had their total wellbeing in your charge.  I remember the two am checks in the cold and dark during lambing time. The ewes that were difficult to handle; one of them bit the man who was shearing her. I had been taken out by more than one of them. God is the good shepherd, who cares for his sheep. He loves them and calls them by name. He gave his all for them. He has many difficult sheep, but he never gives up on them.

We are told in Philippians 2:13 that God has a good purpose, and we are in his plans. Romans 8:28 (NIV) says ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’. We are called into the goodness that God has prepared for us. His goodness surrounds us. (Psalm 23:6; 27:13). It’s not just what he did, and what he will do, it is also what he is doing right now. We are blessed everyday by his goodness. Those bricks seemed good to me, but we are told in Mark 19:18 and Luke 18:19 that only God is good. His purpose is good. His character is good. He is everything that is good, and we can measure good by his standards.

We who are called the children of God, we carry his name, his good name. He has called us his own. I must ask myself: “Do I honour his name by my actions?” “Will others know God’s true character by the way I represent him”? His name may not be stamped on me so all can read it, but the way I live my life should say whose I belong to, who it was that made me, and how reliable I am. I see God’s good name everywhere in the wonderful things that he has made, his good name. May others see him in me.

Prayer
Our Father, the love of our life, I thank you for working in our lives. I want to honour your name, but I do not always do so. Forgive us all, and help us to learn your ways, that you may be honoured by our action. We praise you God! In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Study by Anne Gillam

About the writer:
Anne Gillam is a retired Pastor in Grace Communion International, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.

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