Longtime readers, if you still exist, will no doubt expect that this post is my reintroduction after a long absence—and perhaps it should be, but I’ll save that for another day.
No, I’ve been thinking about names. My dog has many names: she’s Haley, Pookie, Pookienem, Bronto-schnauzer, Sweetheart, Good Girl, and occasionally, when in trouble, Haley Butcher (parents, you know the drill—say the full name to get your kid’s attention; same thing here). One thing she is never, ever called: Bad Dog. As I told Isaac and Anna the other day when they were chastising Haley, “She is not a bad dog; what she did is bad, but we will never call her bad, just like I would never call you bad.”
This thought process started a few weeks ago with a visit to the loldogs site:
I wonder how many of us are secretly, in our heart of hearts, dammitdog? Of course, we wouldn’t actually say it, at least not out loud. But if you’re like me, you say similar things in your head all the time: Stupid, Fat, Loser, Worthless, SOB…the list goes on, and many of the names are much worse, unspeakable in polite society. Some of these names come from family; it’s unfortunate that few of us grow up thinking deep down that we are Whozmysweetboymommylovesyou. (Which makes me very mindful of what I call my children!) Other names come from a spouse, teacher, “friend,” someone we dated, a bully—and often, ourselves. Regardless of the source, we internalize and repeat these names ad infinitum.
In the movie Evan Almighty, Evan Baxter repeats affirmations to himself: “I’m happy, powerful, successful, handsome.” Though it’s played as a joke, his behavior is actually on target; we could all use some daily affirmations—new names—to help us see ourselves differently.
With that in mind, here are a few names you can and should call yourself over and over. Try saying My name is
- child of God (Jn 1:12)
- beloved (Eph 5:1)
- Christ’s friend (Jn 15:15)
- chosen (Jn 15:16)
- son of God (Gal 3:26)
- joint heir with Christ (Rom 8:17)
- temple of God (1 Cor 3:16)
- new creation (2 Cor 5:17)
- saint (Eph 1:1)
- strong in the Lord (Eph 6:10)
- righteous and holy (Eph 4:24)
- citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20)
- delivered (Col 1:13)
- rooted in Christ (Col 2:7)
- holy and dearly loved (Col 3:12)
- child of light (1 Thess 5:5)
- holy brother (Heb 3:1)
- justified (Rom 5:1)
- free forever from condemnation (Rom 8:1)
- more than a conqueror (Rom 8:37)
- sanctified (1 Cor 6:11)
- God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10)
I’m going to say these aloud to myself for the next week and report back on my findings; I encourage you to do the same. Are there names or passages in Scripture that you use as affirmations? Share them in the comments below.
Yesterday, feeling a little flat, I thought I’d find inspiration in a name of Jesus. I have a “Names of Jesus” poster hanging in my office on campus, and occasionally I’ll take one of the names, look at the scripture reference, get the context, and mull it over. I’ve worked my way through about a third, so the next in the list was “Carpenter.”
Charis means grace, and that’s what this blog is about: grace, in all its—sometimes messy, always magnificent—manifestations. I’m Dan Butcher, and I invite you to join me in learning to lead a Christ-centered, grace-filled life. 
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.