Calling Names

“Why do we have names Daddy?”

Thats my girl, always thinking.

My initial reply was, “Because if every one was called “Hey You!” it’d be confusing.”
To which I got the sigh/eyeroll deluxe. That’s just the best.

But she was serious, so I explained.

God made the first people and named them Adam and Eve. One of Adam’s first jobs was to name everything. All the animals were named by Adam—so names must be very important to God. And we just kept it up because all of us are related to Adam and Eve. But then they fell into sin. Because of that original sin everyone is a sinner or there’s just something inside of them that keeps them from having a relationship, from knowing God. So our names are a reminder of what we have lost.

The boy says, “Am I a sinner?”

I had to break the news to him that he was in fact a sinner. “Yup. The Bible says that everyone is a sinner son.” I have never seen any reason to sugar coat the truth of our disease. I don’t think he took it very well. Today he announced that he wasn’t a sinner so I had to tell him again that the Bible says he is along with everyone else. “All have sinned….” Which is why we need Jesus. Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost”. He came to be a physician to those who are sick, to minister to drunks and harlots and tax-collectors of which all of us are the worst.

So they’re a reminder of what we have been given.

“Are we going to get new names when we get to heaven?”

“Yes sweetie but everyone will know you.”

“I like my name now.”

“Don’t worry baby that’s a ways off.”

So they’re a reminder of what’s to come.

“Names are important.”

“They sure are.” That seemed to satisfy her.

At the end the boy says, “who was Adam again?”

Well it’s a start.