The Best of – Portals of Prayer

Read: Isaiah 43:1-13

“The disciples were first called Christians.”
Acts 11:26

His Name Is Our Name

The persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen scattered most of the believers from Jerusalem, the center of the mother Church. Wherever they went, they shared the Gospel, mostly with Jews. Outwardly, the new disciples looked no different from their friends and relatives. But spiritually, they were plainly different: they believed on Christ and lived like Him. If this be so, said the people of Antioch, let them be called “Christians.” The name is a happy choice. The disciples of Christ are no mere followers. Paul would say they are wedded to Christ by faith.
As a bridegroom gives his bride his name, so Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, gives His Bride, the Church, His name. Furthermore, the disciples are intimately bound to Christ through Holy Baptism. Paul says that in Baptism, we “put on” Christ. We are “christened,” we say. Paul might say, “Christ dwells in you by faith” or “Let Christ be formed in you.” “Christian” symbolizes more, therefore, than local church membership. It signals that the Father in heaven has numbered us among His sons and daughters, that He has filled us with the righteousness of His Son, that He has declared us to be “little Christs.” Let us strive to keep unspotted that name of which we are unworthy.

Blessed Lord Christ, whose name is above every name, help us to keep Thy name holy. Amen

January 03, 1959