As parents, my husband and I have the privilege of naming our children. As time progresses, we've given the kids shorter and shorter names. For one, We realized how challenging it has been for my side of the family to pronounce their names. And for two, God has placed these names in our minds in such orders. Amazingly, each of the children lived up to his/her name. He knows our children even before they were born.
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb." --Psalm 139:13
After having two boys, my father was pleased to have a little girl and named me "sweet-smelling fragrance"(馨).
I could not say that I loved my name. Anyone who's heard my name would comment: "It sounds just like a boy's name." or "oh, it's the letter for carnation." Neither did I wish to be a boy or wanted to be forever associated with motherhood.
The worst took place on my first day of class in grade school. Everyone was required to fill an entire page with his name (more than 50 times). Since there are many strokes in my name, while most of the kids finished this task in minutes, it took me the whole 50 minutes to barely reach 2/3 of the page. My face was burning red when the whole class realized I was the only one undone. I was in tears thinking how unfortunate my name was.
After turning my life to Christ, I began to appreciate my name from God's perspective. One day, the Scripture reading came from the book of 2 Corinthians:
"14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God." --2 Corinthians 2:14-17
Followers of Christ ARE the pleasing aroma of Christ. I AM that aroma of Christ to both the saved and unsaved. That's my name! The fragrance of God! That's what I should live for, so that others would see Life or the conviction of turning to Christ.
What's your purpose in life? What's in your name?
