In his book Wild at Heart John Eldridge writes, “The history of man’s relationship with God is the story of how God calls him out, takes him on a journey and gives him his new name.” Like Abram, Sarai, Jacob, Gideon, Moses, Peter, and Paul God is helping his people understand their true story by hearing the name that he is speaking over their lives. Distinct from the name on our birth certificates, penned by a fallen mom and dad, God’s name for us is birthed from an eternal understanding of who we truly are, and who we are meant to be. In so many ways, it is a name far more real than any name we have ever been given. The difficult part of embracing the new name is not necessarily discovering it, but truly hearing it, owning it, and believing it. So often the reason for this is that God gives us a new name for his own glory and not our own. While a new name may grant us hope for the future, more than anything it is the means by which God is writing his own story. For this reason, the new name we are given by God is often formed through the wounds of our past. Indeed, as Eldridge writes later, “He will wound us in the very place where we have been wounded.” Gideon, alone, frightened and hiding in a wine press is called “mighty warrior.” A barren man and woman become a “father and mother of nations.” The persecutor of God’s church becomes one of its greatest missionaries. The disciple who rejects Jesus is called the dependable rock. God is not making mistakes; he is drawing attention to the magnitude of his transformative power. The same power that created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing), the same power that raised Jesus form the dead, is the same power at work in the lives of millions as God comes to each of his children and transforms their stories of tragedy and failure into tales of epic redemption and victory. Why? So that the world will know his unspeakable grace and bend their knees in humble submission. Every story of transformation becomes a living, breathing example of the depths God is willing to stoop in order to rescue a life and how great is his ability to save. The redeemed are called ambassadors. We are story-tellers declaring the truths about the author and perfector of our faith who longs to finish your story the way he wrote it before the foundations of the earth. Give him the pen, listen for your new name, and let the watching world be in awe of what God is able to do with our tragic tales, perfectly suited for surprise endings. Everyone has a story. http://vimeo.com/13509635
