What’s Your Nickname?
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One has a lot of time to think and pray when you are sitting in the ER of a hospital. My mom has been sick and I found myself sitting with her in the ER waiting to see a doctor. I noticed a disabled and hearing impaired woman visiting with a doctor. Then out of the blue she asked him, “What’s your nickname?” Before he could answer he was called away and I never did find out the doc’s story. But the woman’s question got me thinking about nicknames. When I was a boy I thought it was remarkable that many times total strangers knew my name. My parents gave me the nickname Buddy. |
I imagine it was because I had the same first name as my dad. Everybody called me Buddy until I got into junior high. My homeroom teacher thought Buddy was not sophisticated enough so she talked me into going by my legal name. But my relatives still call me Buddy.
Many nicknames are terms of endearment. But some have a negative connotation. Most people know Honest Abe, A-Rod, Ike, the Great Bambino, or Dubya (George W. Bush – an exaggeration of Texans pronunciation of the letter “w”). A new phenomenon is the use of nicknames in the area of computer networks. Many people have one or more nicknames for the purpose of anonymity, to save space, or maybe for the sake of characterization and creativity. We have a friend who goes by “stalledvw”. I find it humorous because I know the story behind it.
I think God loves to give nicknames. His nicknames are always positive and truthful because that is His nature. God has given a special nickname to His only begotten Son that only they know. (Revelation 19:12) All of the nicknames given to Him in God’s Word cannot fully describe how awesome the Lord is.
Jesus called Peter “Petros” – a rock. Even though many times Peter did not act like a rock, the Lord saw Peter’s potential and destiny. James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder” but they became apostles of love. Their nickname was a constant reminder of God’s redeeming grace.
What’s your nickname? Maybe you don’t have one or you’d just as soon forget yours. God has a new nickname awaiting you. It is given to you when you are “born again” by the Holy Spirit when you receive Christ as savior and Lord. (John 3:1-17) Jesus has a new nickname for all of His sons and daughters who live overcoming lives in this world. “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” (Revelation 2:17 NKJV).
Don’t give up! It will be worth it all when we see Christ. Is your name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life? It can be at this very moment. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13 NKJV).
by: Cliff Sanders