Whats in a name…?

Today’s post is inspired by our service this morning. We had been asked the previous week to think about what Jesus is to us, and this morning we wrote those words onto big canvases. The idea came from Jesus saying to Peter in Mathew 16: 15-16:
“But what about you?” He asked, “who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

So we were asked to think about different terms for Jesus and what he means to us. If He asked us, what would our answer be?

Inspired by this, I did a bit of research this week into the different names for Jesus, in the bible specifically. I was actually quite amazed at how many there were! Most I had heard before but just hadn’t really registered,eg:
Lion of Judah; Lamb of God; The Good Shepherd; The Way, The Truth, The Life; The True Vine….

I love ‘Bright & morning Star’ from Revelation 22:16

“…I am the Root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.”

What a lovely idea – to think of him as the Bright Morning star.

and for me:
‘Rabonni’ (teacher) which is very relevant to me at the mo as I am just learning from him all the time.(John 20:16)

Actually I found on Wikipedia a great list which I’m sure isnt totally comprehensive but had many. Now I know wikipedia isn’t always 100% accurate, but I did check quite a few and they were right!

It really made me think about how we individually think of the Lord – although as Christians we worship the same Lord, we all think of him in different ways, or find different ways of coming to him. For some it’s as a Father, or even a Mother, others like me, as a teacher, and it made me think about how everyone’s faith is different. We all worship in different ways and have different ways of coming to him, feeling closer to him, ways of praying, but we are united in our love of Christ.

If only we could all remember that sometimes…