by Steve Hale
"And Joses, who was 'also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus ( Acts 4:36, NKJV).
My father's name was. Ethridge Cantrell Hale. But, if you go to Livingston and ask abo.ut Ethridge Hale, not many people will know who you're talking about. Say "Dusty" Hale, and about everyone knew him.
He was given the name "Dusty" because while in the Philippines in World War II,he worked along a dirt runway. He complained about the dust, and his fellow soldiers gave him a name that stuck with him throughout his life, "Dusty."
Names, we call them "nicknames," tell you a lot about somebody. For example, the Lord called James and John, the sons of Zebedee "Boanerges" which means "sons of thunder" ( Mark 3:17).
These brothers, though great servants, were temperamental. When a certain Samaritan village did not receive Jesus; James and John said: "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just Elijah did" ( Luke 9:54)?
Our Lord rebuked them "You do not know what manner you are are of. For the Son of Man did no come to destroy men's lives but td save them" ( Luke 9:55-56). He well named them Boanerge's, didn't he?
People I'm dose to have their nicknames. I call Cindy "Squeak" because she squeaks out "Stee-uh-eeve" when she's aggravated with. I call Joey "Flavius' because he's studious like the historian, Flavius Josephus. I call Pat Huddleston "June Cleaver" because she's so well organized. I call Dorothy Zumbro "Dorothy Pearl,' because that was brother Johnny McCulloch's nickname for her. I'm sure you have nicknames you call people too.
The Lord was descriptive with names he gave' people. Sometimes, it was so complimentary, as he called Peter "Cephas" which means "a stone" because of his great faith and dedication ( John 1:42). Sometimes, it aptly described the evil in someone, like when he called Herod "that fox," ( Luke 13:32) because he was cunning and wicked.
What would the Lord call me and what would he call you if He had yet to ascend, and was in our company? Would we be His Barnabas or Cephas? Would we be His fox or His Boanerges?
Yes, we all want to be "Christians" ( 1 Peter 4:16; Acts 26:28; Acts 11:26), but we want this to be more than a ritualistic or formal name. More than just what we are called, we want this to be who we are ( Acts 4:13).