Day 82 - The name of Jesus

I love the Mr Men and Little Miss set of books. I have been reading them to the P1 kids - we started just after Christmas and continued via YouTube during the lockdown.  

They are simple, straightforward and you know exactly what a character is like just by their name. What would life be like if that was us today? 

Some people would be happy enough. For example, yesterday I was working and spent an hour and a half with a real life Little Miss Sunshine who made me laugh and giggle more than I have in a long time! 

But others wouldn’t be so happy. I know several people who might end up with names like Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Chatterbox, Mr Grumble or Mr Uppity if they weren’t careful. 

My name (Tanya) means a Russian fairy princess, and while that sounds amazing, I don’t think it’s quite accurate! I’ll stick to being a mixture of Little Miss Late, Little Miss Scatterbrain, with a little bit of Little Miss Hug thrown in for good measure! 

In the Bible a lot of the main characters are given special names - most of which are prophetic. 

Examples include -

* David - means ‘beloved’ - which was fitting since God chose him king because He loved him 

* Hannah - means ‘favour’ - she was barren before God chose to bless her with Samuel

* Samuel - means ‘asked if God’ - which of course is what he was

* Benjamin - means ‘son of the south’ or ‘son of my right hand’ - he was the youngest of Jacob’s sons and was the founder of one of the southern tribes of Hebrews! 

* Moses - meaning ‘taken out’ - and not only was he taken from his home to go live in the palace, he then led the exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt. 

But the most important name in the Bible is Jesus. Jesus means ‘saviour, deliverer’ - and He of course is the Saviour of the world! 

But not only does He live up to the name He was given (and remember the angel told Mary what to call Him), there is power in His name. 

Romans 10:13 tells us - 

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Philippians 2:10 says - 

“...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...”

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‭‭And Acts 4:12 states - 

“There is salvation in no one else! God has given 

no other name 

under heaven by which we must be saved.””

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What a name! What a person! What a Lord! I’m constantly in awe that the Lord of Creation, the Saviour of the world and the Son of God wants to be my best friend. 

Jesus. There is something about that name. 

A God I can rely on

There are so many things happening in life. We can get easily overwhelmed by the amount of choices we have to make, things we have to do and people we have to please. 

I am not the most reliable person in the world. It’s not a nice to admit but unfortunately it’s the truth. I love to make plans and I always have the best of intentions, but I fail to deliver more often than not. 

I have the greatest respect for all my friends because they put up with my tardiness and my last-minute cancellations. But it can’t be easy. 

It is annoying when you are waiting for someone and they don’t turn up. It’s horrible to have to wait for someone to do something for you when you are relying on them and they don’t do it. It’s darn-right rude for someone to promise something and let you down. 

But God is so different. God never lets us down. He never fails us or leaves us standing alone. He can always be relied on and always always is there for us, no matter what. 

Where we make excuses, God makes promises. When we fail, God succeeds. When we struggle, God is our strength. Truly loving. Always there. Someone to rely on.