“You need to fill out a name tag,” Lynne whispered as we were signing in for the training session. “Great,” I responded. I always appreciate having name tags at group functions, as I am terrible at remembering names. Personally, I like the preprinted ones because not everyone writes legibly, me included.

I sometimes wonder if they have name tags in Heaven. I’m guessing not, and that’s probably a good thing. I’m thinking about the worst name tag anyone could have, and that would be “Rahab the Harlot.” How would you like to have to wear a name tag that described possibly the worst part of your past?

In the Old Testament, children were often named based on life circumstances. Jacob’s name literally means “heel-catcher” because he grabbed Esau’s foot on the way to delivery. Jacob’s son Benjamin was initially named Ben-o'ni, which means “son of my sorrow,” as his mother died during his birth. Eli the priest’s two sons, Hophni and Phineas, both died when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. Phineas’s wife was about to deliver when she heard the news about her husband’s death and the loss of the Ark. As she delivered her son before she died, she named him Ichabod, which means “no glory” or “the glory has departed.”

Proverbs tells us, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1, ESV), so obviously a bad name is not desirable.

The good news is that God’s kingdom operates on an entirely different merit system than this worldly one does. Take Lot, for example. His record is checkered, to say the least. He separated from Abraham and “pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Genesis 13:12, KJV), and we all know how that ended. Sodom was destroyed, and Lot had to be dragged out of town by a couple of angels. He lost everything and ended up in a cave, yet we see Peter talking about how God “rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:7, ESV).

How does that happen? It happens because God does not remember our sin.

“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:10-12, ESV)

God removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west! If you aren’t completely comfortable with an Old Testament illustration, how about what Jesus tells us? In His letter to the church of Pergamum, Jesus promises a “new name” to overcomers.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers [‘overcometh,’ KJV] I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17, ESV)

I’m not a theologian, but I suspect that the name King Jesus will give us will be the “good name” Proverbs referred to. And to whom is this new name given? It is given to those who are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) and those who are “overcomers” and/or “conquers” (Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21, and 21:7).

I would suggest we all read and meditate on those texts. Because I want my new name to reflect the new person I have become through the power of God’s redemption.

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!