1/27/2022

My children love their stufties (we also LOVE abbreviating words in our home). Seriously, they love their stuffed animals that we affectionately refer to as "stufties." Last night, while tucking my daughter into bed, she showed me the stuftie du jour and it happened to be one that belonged to her brother. She explained that he had allowed her to borrow it for the evening.

She said to me, "Do you want to know what his name is?" "Sure," I responded and she proceeded to tell me his 'new' name. We talked briefly about the new name and I informed her that the stuffed animal did not belong to her, therefore she couldn't just 'rename' it on a whim. She assured me that in the world of make-believe-stufties, that she could indeed rename her brother's beloved animal because for that evening the animal belonged to her.

We then said goodnight, I kissed her on the head, walked out of the room and turned off the lights. But as her lights went off, the lightbulb of the Holy Spirit came on in my heart, reminding me that this is exactly what Satan does. Satan tries to rename the children of God. He tries to rename us by our sins, our shame, our past, our failures, our fears. But here is the key -- He can't rename us! We don't belong to Him!

As believers, God calls us and has tells us who we are in Him. We belong to God and Satan has no authority or ownership to name us -- not for a night, not for a day, not for a moment. He may try to rename us, that is his ammo. He has been lying and trying to steal things that don't belong to him since time began, but that is when we need to remind him and ourselves, what our name is in Christ: Redeemed, Set-Free, Chosen, Called, Child of the King, Beloved, Joint Heirs with Christ, and the list could go on.

Just like with my son's stuffed animal, our identity in Christ is all about ownership. We belong to The Most High God and when we know who we are in Christ and whose we are, Satan's attempts to rename us fall flat.

"Now this is what the Lord says—the one who created you, Jacob,and the one who formed you, Israel—“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you."

Isaiah 43:1-2

Photo by Trevor Vannoy on Unsplash