George shares his thought for the week; what’s in a nickname?

So today you find me on a sunny day in central London stood not far from one of the most iconic and well-known landmarks in central London. Funnily enough it’s known by a nickname the name that most people know this tower as is Big Ben.

But Big Ben is not its real name – its real name is the Elizabeth Tower. The nickname comes from the great bell that’s in that tower that chimes on the hour, when when the clock tells us the time. And it got me thinking about other nicknames like ones in the Bible; Jesus referred to Herod as a fox. In Luke 13 He was describing Herod as a cunning individual, someone who was deceitful – not a really great nickname to have! In Acts 4 we’re introduced to someone who goes by the name of Joseph, but we know him better by the name that he was given by others around him, which was called Barnabas which means ‘son of encouragement’. And if you think about the Apostle Paul he was once called Saul, which was one of the great kingly names of Israel whereas Paul actually means small or humble.

And then of course in Acts 11 we see the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, that city which is in modern-day Syria. And what does Christian mean? It means ‘follower of Christ’ which is the name that applies to those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. We call ourselves Christians because we are followers of Christ.

And I was just wondering whether we always truly own that nickname that we were first given in Acts 11. Are we truly followers of Christ in every circumstance in every situation, daily and the big things and the small things? I would encourage you all to think about areas of your life where actually you could be doing better; we could all be doing better in owning the name that we’ve been given as followers of Christ.

Have a good week!

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.