Daily Devotional

The story is told of a soldier in the army of Alexander the Great, who was brought before the great world conqueror for court martial. When the emperor had listened to the charges and the evidence, he turned to the soldier facing condemnation, and said, “What is your name?” “Alexander!” was the reply. Again the emperor questioned, “What is your name?” And the second time the soldier answered, “Alexander!” With a cry of rage, the emperor roared, “I say, what is your name? ” The soldier answered for the third time, “Alexander!” The great general angrily replied, “You say your name is Alexander? You are found guilty of your crime as charged and now you must pay the penalty. Either change your conduct or change your name—for no man can bear the name of Alexander, my name, and do the things that you have done.”

We bear the name of Christ. We have “life in His name” (John 20:31). Therefore, it is not by accident that we are called CHRIST-ians—the Greek word christianos—meaning we are “little Christs” and not just Christ-followers (cf. Acts 11:26).

Being a child of God and clothed with Christ should stimulate us to make it one of our life’s ambitions to never be a shame to the name of Christ—to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. In fact, it may call us to be reviled (1 Peter 4:14) and even risk our lives (Acts 15:26) for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our goal is profound:

Ruth 4:14 “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous...”

The fact is, we can’t change our name so we better change our conduct—“…so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified” in us (1 Thessalonians 1:12)

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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