Thoughts.
I was thinking today on what makes a happy Christian, vs. an unhappy one. For a second, I instinctively thought "A happy Christian is a thinking Christian, that is, one who is secure in his understanding of the faith." Then I thought again, of exceptions I know. People who are marvelously joyful Christians, but who have no love f0r theology per se. And then it came to me. Happy Christians are those who love God's law. It was a "duh" moment. I recalled Psalm 1--
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
So anyways.
The other ponderance of mine at the moment is Biblical significance of names. The names of God, being (in a sense) one with His identity, are sacred. What huge implications this has for the names of His people! I was exploring the various facets of this last night (not very well), and marking down some points for future study.
~sometimes, when an angel announces the conception of a child, he also announces his name. "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." cannot at the moment recall another child whose name was determined by God, but I'm fairly sure there's at least one other person. Oh yes. The sons of Hosea. Anyone else?
~when someone already has a name, God changes it. Especially in Genesis. Jacob was called Israel, Prince of God, because his offspring would be the lawgivers of the earth and the Messiah would come from among them.
~God gives every Christian a name. I have called you by your name; You are Mine.--Is. 43; and To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.--Rev. 2
~Through Scripture, women name their sons in anticipation of some role they will fulfill, or to remember some historical event surrounding their birth. This is in imitation of God, Who, as we have seen, does this quite frequently. It is also a realization of the fact that names are for people an identity, heritage, a demonstration of the parents' faith in God's promises.
The whole point of this was to explain to myself why my parents named us all with significant names. I've known since the time I could understand that my name means "consecrated to God"--and I have a familial, historical, and spiritual heritage attached to it. The name came with a set of responsibilities. It was a statement of what my personality would be. And it was an expression of my parents' faith that God would indeed consecrate me to Himself. Now, if my name had meant "Gracious," as my sister's name does, it would have been meaningless, because I am not gracious. That name was given to her because she could live up to it; and mine was given to me because it was a reflection of me--and all before she or I had ever uttered a word. God provided the right name for each of us through our parents. Miraculously.
No matter what, ultimately it is God who names. I think this means that no matter how much weight a parent puts into a name, the child will carry it to the glory of God. And because God does it, we can (and should) name our children significantly.
I'd love to hear some remarks on this.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
So anyways.
The other ponderance of mine at the moment is Biblical significance of names. The names of God, being (in a sense) one with His identity, are sacred. What huge implications this has for the names of His people! I was exploring the various facets of this last night (not very well), and marking down some points for future study.
~sometimes, when an angel announces the conception of a child, he also announces his name. "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." cannot at the moment recall another child whose name was determined by God, but I'm fairly sure there's at least one other person. Oh yes. The sons of Hosea. Anyone else?
~when someone already has a name, God changes it. Especially in Genesis. Jacob was called Israel, Prince of God, because his offspring would be the lawgivers of the earth and the Messiah would come from among them.
~God gives every Christian a name. I have called you by your name; You are Mine.--Is. 43; and To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.--Rev. 2
~Through Scripture, women name their sons in anticipation of some role they will fulfill, or to remember some historical event surrounding their birth. This is in imitation of God, Who, as we have seen, does this quite frequently. It is also a realization of the fact that names are for people an identity, heritage, a demonstration of the parents' faith in God's promises.
The whole point of this was to explain to myself why my parents named us all with significant names. I've known since the time I could understand that my name means "consecrated to God"--and I have a familial, historical, and spiritual heritage attached to it. The name came with a set of responsibilities. It was a statement of what my personality would be. And it was an expression of my parents' faith that God would indeed consecrate me to Himself. Now, if my name had meant "Gracious," as my sister's name does, it would have been meaningless, because I am not gracious. That name was given to her because she could live up to it; and mine was given to me because it was a reflection of me--and all before she or I had ever uttered a word. God provided the right name for each of us through our parents. Miraculously.
No matter what, ultimately it is God who names. I think this means that no matter how much weight a parent puts into a name, the child will carry it to the glory of God. And because God does it, we can (and should) name our children significantly.
I'd love to hear some remarks on this.
posted by Unknown at 5:08 PM
2 Comments:
Other children whose names God gave:
--Isaiah's two children
--John the Baptist
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Regarding your thoughts on "happy" or "joyful" Christians, I think a person needs to carefully examine how they are using the words. Some people get themselves into a lot of trouble by viewing "happy" from a wordly point of view and then they end up being greatly discouraged because they don't live up to that standard of "happy" in their lives.
So, (I would say) before we can talk about what makes a Christian happy we need to ask what defines Christian happiness. And then we also need to ask if it is right to expect a Christian to be happy all the time or if a Christian living in complete accord with God's will can be rightly not happy. The discussion can become very muddled when we bring different conceptions of happiness to the table.
With all this talk of happiness, my thoughts go back to Isaiah 53:3 where Christ is called "a man of sorrows." I don't think Jesus during his earthly ministry came across as marvelously joyful or happy as most people would define it, and he is the example we are called the follow.
I think you are right in observing that your initial focus on "theological learning" was not quite on track. But I think your statement that "Happy Christians are those who love God's law" doesn't quite get to the heart of the matter. God's Law is the revelation of Himself. Those who love God's Law love it because they love Him first. And as Christ is the fulfillment of the law (and of the revelation of God) then we love Christ because he is the revelation of God. The focus of our love is God. So yes, happy is the man who loves God, and is loved by God. Love of God leads us into obedience to God and greater knowledge of God.
Evidently, then, there is a sense in which we can say all Christians are happy--by that definition. But as some Christians are more mature in their Christian walk and thus more like Christ (in emulating His love for God) we can say some Christians are more happy than others . . . and I think it is obvious that this standard of happiness is not one the world sees with fleshly eyes
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Returning to the discussion of names . . . I agree with your observations about God and his activity in naming. But I'm not quite sure what you are saying regarding the activity of men (and women) in naming.
I would agree with the general statement that mankind has the tendency to imitate God--but that is an action of imitation, not true power. When you say your name "was a statement of what my personality would be" you seem to be saying that your parents determined what your personality would be by their naming, just as God in His sovereign power makes determinative pronouncements in His naming. That would then not be imitating God, but exercising a power equal to God.
Obviously that wasn't actually what you meant, as your later statement "God provided the right name for each of us through our parents" implies that your parents (rather than acting by their own power) were vessels of God's divine activity. But in this case you seem to be implying that God has vested some type of papal infallibility into parental naming. That seems a rather bold statement short on Scripture, no? It seems when God wanted to reveal something particular in naming He didn't leave it up to the parents but rather took His own initiative in naming the child by divine revelation.
And your consideration of human naming activity as recorded in Scripture is not complete. Plenty of naming has occurred in Scripture which does not reflect the named person's personality or activity, but rather the named person's physical appearance (Esau), relation to other people (Benjamen or Ben-Oni), the activity of God (Samuel), or the nature of God (those with names like The Lord is God, the Lord is Gracious, The Lord is Merciful, etc). And then there are the names like the names of the three daughters of Job which mean "dove" "cinnamon" and "container of antimony" (a highly prized eye-shadow). Strange names for a righteous man like Job to be giving his daughters . . .
Also, I would point out that the New Testament does not appear to attach preeminent importance to names. There is no NT instruction on how we ought to name our children, and the gentiles who became Christians and had Greek names (related to Greek gods) did not seem to feel compelled to change their names.
I guess this comment is long enough, so I will stop.
Very short comment:
My name came from a time when my mother was flipping through the Bible and lighted on the Beatitudes and "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." So, she named me Katherine. It's not a heritage; as far as I know, I have no relatives or ancestors by that name, but at any rate it reminds me of what I need to be. For which I am very grateful.
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