DAILY DEVOTIONAL – May 20, 2020
“Name Brand“
Prayer: Almighty God, we thank You that You have revealed Yourself to us in Jesus, that we may know You and be known by You. Help us remember each day that in our baptism You have made us Your children and that no one can take us out of Your hands. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture: Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Devotional – “Name Brand”
A few week’s ago I was having a conversation with someone about the Christian faith. This person was not a Christian, but was no doubt searching for God. Somehow we got on the topic of baptism. The young man I was speaking with said that the whole idea of sprinkling water on someone’s head and declaring them to be saved seemed to be no more than a cheap magic trick.
In response I told him, “That would be true if it was only water being used.” “What do you mean?” he asked. I told him, “The water is only the agent or the means through which God works faith into a person. The real power of baptism is the Name in which we baptize and the Name that someone is baptized into. The Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The young man paused for a minute and said somewhat sarcastically, “So then, it’s like saying ‘hocus pocus’?” “No,” I said, “Magic is an illusion, a trick. You can learn to do magic. No human is able to learn how to save their own soul or someone else’s soul. Human’s are the problem…our sin is the problem. Only God is powerful enough to save. God has saved us through His Son Jesus, and He has given us His Holy Spirit and His Name through which that Spirit works salvation.”
I could tell he was thinking about what I said, but still wasn’t really understanding. Then I remembered an article I read online about the rap artist Lecrae. Lecrae is a Christian rapper and producer. During a popular Christian conference called Passion, Lecrae told the story of a trip he took to Hollywood during which he stopped into a department store to buy a t-shirt. Not a fancy silk or diamond studded shirt—just a plain cotton T-shirt. As he pulled one from the rack, he noticed the price tag and thought to himself that it must be mis-marked. So he pulled another only to find the same price on the tag. $640! Incredulous, he approached the salesperson to question the exorbitant price.
The salesperson told him the price was correct—$640 – and that was the “special” sale price!
He began to question what could possibly be so special about this T-shirt to warrant such a value. “Am I going to be healed of some disease when I put this on? Am I going to get some kind of super-power?” Lecrae asked jokingly. The salesperson responded saying, “It’s the designer’s name on it that adds value to it.”
After telling this story to the young man I was talking with, I asked him, “So would you agree that name’s have power?” “I guess.” He replied. “Baptism saves because there is no name more powerful than God’s name. His name gives us our true value and His name is the only name by which we can be saved.”
I’m not sure if what I said helped that young man, but it’s true. In baptism God has put His name upon us. We have been marked as a child of God and we belong to Him. It is that name that will appear on our foreheads and that will grant us entrance into eternity with God, seeing Him face to face as it says in our text from Revelation 22.
In today’s pop-psychology culture, you hear a lot about believing you are worth it and believing you have value. Although I understand the intent behind such comments, the truth is, our true worth and eternal value does not come from our name, but only from the name of Jesus that has been written on our hearts through faith. It is by faith in His name that we can be confident we will in fact behold the glory of God for all eternity.
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
