My Name
When I was living in Tennessee in the late nineties, I worked at the Chattanooga mall. Every day I’d take my lunch break at the food court, and on the way there I’d pass the Century 21 booth. I started chatting with the man who worked there on my breaks, and I came to find out that he was a retired pastor. One night, I was reading a passage in the Bible where God gave someone a new name. I suddenly felt sad, because although I had researched it in the past, I hadn’t been able to find the meaning of my name. I prayed to God, “Lord, please tell me what my name means!” The next day, I saw my Century 21 friend at his booth. When he asked how I was doing, I told him I was sad, because I didn’t know what my name meant. He perked up and replied, “I can tell you what it means! Take the “The” from the Greek word “Theos,” which means God, or belonging to God… Then take the “na” from “Naos,” the Greek word for temple, or Holy Place… and you have your name’s meaning! God’s Temple, or God’s Holy Place!” I couldn’t believe! God had answered my prayer. Because this man was a retired pastor, he knew Hebrew and Greek; he was able to translate my name for me. Yet, I knew its meaning had ultimately been given to me as a gift from God. Little did I know how significant its meaning would become to me in my own walk with God… So much of what He has taught me over the years focuses on His temple, and the ways it points to Christ. Praise the Lord for making us His! He calls us by name! “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”