“Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you and call his true servants by another name.” (Isaiah 65:15)

It looks as if God had the same problem here as we have today; He had to come up with a new name for His true followers because most of the people who were supposed to be His followers gave the old name such a bad rap.

I understand this. I find it hard in some circles to call myself a Christian, not because I am ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but because the name has come to mean things that have little or nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Besides, it’s just a name. There isn’t magic attached to it. It doesn’t necessarily mean someone is going to heaven as soon as they become a Christian. In fact, “becoming a Christian” can mean different things to different people.

If you were to ask random people on the street to give their definition of a Christian today, I bet you would be a long time waiting to hear anything like “a follower of Christ,” or “a sinner saved by grace,” or “someone who loves God and loves others,” or “someone who cares about the poor and the homeless.”  My guess is that, more often than not, you would get a political or social definition – a person who stands for this and against that – a person with a particular agenda for the society and the country as a whole (not the kingdom of God, most likely, but the kingdom of America. For many people they are one and the same).

First, there is no special significance attached to the word “Christian.” It was just a label. It’s only used twice in the Bible “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). That doesn’t mean they were not believers before that, or they weren’t saved until they became officially “Christians.” Today you could substitute “follower of Christ” for “Christian” and probably get a truer meaning.

So what do we do about this? Here’s what I’d like to suggest:

Instead of going into the world as a Christian, go into the world as (YOUR NAME HERE _______). You don’t need a label. It’s you. The gospel is you – who you are, who you believe, who you love and are following; and the gospel is you – your story, how you’ve come to know Christ as your savior. Instead of getting people to become Christians, let’s see what we can do to get them to become our friends. That usually starts with first being a friend to them.

What’s in a name? Nothing much. What’s in you is the big deal.