It's important to get someone's name right. Our names are a significant part of who we are, the way we are known and even the way we know ourselves.
To begin understanding Jesus, we need to know that there are many names for him. Each one gives a new perspective into his very nature.
God is calling your name now, and inviting you to consider again who Jesus is for you.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind — just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you — so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
I once asked my Sunday School teacher what “Christ” meant. Was that Jesus’ last name? Were his parents named Mary and Joseph Christ? Did he have a little brother named Larry Christ running around somewhere? What did this mean? Pretty silly, but what I found out is that Christ is a title that comes from a Greek word that means “anointed” or “messiah.”
I seriously doubt that Jesus’ friends and followers ever learned a whole lot of complex, complicated theology from a fancy school or had all the answers to the cosmic mysteries of the divine any more than we do. But they knew Jesus. They knew the person. They knew what made him laugh; what made him cry. They knew what was important to him. They heard the things he said and they saw the way he treated others. And when they looked into his face and saw who he was, they saw the face of God.
That’s what “Christ” means. And when we call Jesus the “Christ,” it means that we see God, too.
Marc van Bulck
Gracious God, help me to see your face and your person today as your friends and followers did. Help me to see those around me as your children, beautifully and fearfully made, and the choices before me as you see them. Be with me as I go into the world. Amen.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:14-17