Nick-Names

Did you ever notice that Jesus likes nick-names?  That God loves a good name change?

Simon gets to be Peter "the Rock".  James and John become the "Sons of Thunder."  Can you imagine how cool it would be like to have Jesus who is LORD God Almighty say "Dude, Sons of Thunder, how you doin'?"

Jesus loves nick-names.  

But actually God just knows our identity.  He knows who we are and who we have been created to be.

Peter and Andrew, James and John, Jesus finds both sets of brothers in Galilee learning the family business of fishing.  In Jewish culture this means that they were not the best or the brightest.  The best youths were asked to be followers of various rabbis.  The fact that these four guys were fishermen means they were not picked.  They were not good enough.  Until a different rabbi came along.

I love the verse John 1:42

"He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter)."

Jesus looks at Simon, sees him, knows who he is, and then calls him Cephas.  It's not that Jesus looked at Peter and said "I'm never going to remember a name like Simon so let's call you Peter instead."  Jesus looked at Peter, knew his identity, who the world saw him as, and then called him by the identity that Peter had been created for.  Jesus did not seem Simon the blue-collar fisherman, he saw a pillar upon which his church would be founded and so he called him Peter.  Jesus defined Peter not by his past, education, achievements, but by his God-given future and identity.  Jesus called Peter into true life.

We see this same idea play out in the Old Testament.  Jacob had grown up with the identity of "Deceiver", that was who he was.  Until he wrestled with God.  Then God changed his name to Israel.  Starting from his grandfather (whom God changed from Abram to Abraham) God was creating a people who would be a light to this dark world, a holy nation set apart, and Jacob now Israel was a part of that plan.  God radically changed Jacob's identity.  God also broke his hip because sometimes we have to hit bottom before we allow God to speak over us.  If He has to God will break our hip to change our identity.

What names and nick-names does God have for you?  Who has God declared you to be?