Significant names

NAMES…are so very interesting. Every culture has theirs. The latest figures I have seen on U. S. population is 327,556,972. The U. S. Census Bureau reports at least 151,671 last names and 5,163 first names in common use. Multiply that across the world plus the several millennia since creation. So, what’s in a name? So many rich meanings. What’s yours? But besides Johnny Cash’s song, there are very few boys named Sue.

Friends just welcomed their first grandbaby into their family. The parents named her Sophie. It means wisdom. This month, our family in Great Barrington hosted a twelve year old NYC boy for ten days by the name of Eliakim. I looked it up. It means ‘whom God will raise up’. This week, a young man shared that his step mother was a local policewoman. She stopped a woman for a traffic violation and proceeded to ask her name. She replied with what sounded like ‘Orangelo’. Upon the request for her driver’s license, the officer was very surprised when she read her name. ‘Orange Jello….’ was her official name. Top that one!

I think grandparent names are the best. Joanne is Gami and I’m Bumpa. What a sweet sound to our ears. If you are not a grandparent yet, you may not understand. There is an expression I heard, and have written a book around the thought. ‘Any man can be a father, it takes a special man to be a dad.’ Guys, what do your children call you? The thought simply says most any man can be a biological father, but it requires invested time and love to be considered a dad. ‘My old man’ just never has cut it with me! As I was writing From Faith to Faith, I ran across another expression by an unknown author. ‘The greatest gift I ever had came from God; I call him Dad.’
How would you guys love to hear that expressed about you?

God first

I suggest that to become that ‘Dad’, you must first be enamored in a similar way with your heavenly Father. You do realize that besides Judaism and Christianity, no other idol god is ever considered a father. That is how personal the Triune God is, or should be to us as believers. And for a Father to send His Son to offer you eternal life with Them, that is well beyond comprehension. It’s called unconditional love. When you know and experience this love, it tends to overflow into the way you love your wife, children and so many others.

Jesus shared this deep intimacy with His Father. Listen to Him. ‘And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will”’ (Mk. 14.36 NKJV). Abba in English is simply translated ‘Daddy’. Intimate and personal! Paul writes in Romans 8.15 that ‘You have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”’ As he addresses the Galatians, Paul reminds them that they are sons. He wrote; ‘Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”’ (Gal. 4.6 NKJV)

Intimate and secure

See, there is much about a name. The heavenly Father was ever present in Jesus’ life. They were One! Jesus had the Father’s DNA in Him. Men, that’s the place to start to become the dad…who God wants you to be. Being present in so many ways will assure your relationship with your children will be intimate and secure. Jesus needed His Father; your children need you. Absolutely no one can replace you. And as we said earlier, it really starts with your relationship with your heavenly Father. Cry out to Him, call out His name—Abba, Father! Daddy, I need you to make me into the Dad my children need and You want me to be. He’ll deliver! He always does.