The Power to Name
This summer, we’ve been talking about the Power of our Words. We’ve explored the importance of listening, the tongue’s potential for good and evil, and becoming slow to speak. Today, we’ll focus on this question: how do our words reflect our identity as God’s image bearers?
Let’s go back to the beginning. The very beginning, when God created the world. Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gensis 1:1). From there, God began to create the entire world as we know it today—sun, moon, stars, trees, animals, and then his prized possession: humans. The special thing about humans is that we are created in God’s image. Meaning, we were created similar to God, clearly distinct from animals. We have a soul, a mind and will, the ability to choose and create. Psalm 8 echoes this: “You have made them (man) a little lower than the angels, and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).
Being made in God’s image means we’re invited to participate in shaping it, to steward His creation with care and purpose. So, God gives humans an assignment. To be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over every living thing (Genesis 1:28). To fulfill this great role, God puts man in the Garden to work it and keep it. And what is man’s very first job? To name the animals.
Genesis 2:19-20 says this: “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.”
In Genesis 1, God said, and the world was created. Then in Genesis 2, man said, and all the animals were named. If we step back for a moment and think about this, it’s pretty wild. What a huge honor and responsibility! God invited Adam to be a co-creator with Him, to share in His authority. Whatever name Adam gave the animals, that was it. Done deal.
As a new parent, I think about when we named our daughter. After you find out you’re having a baby, parents spend months deciding on a name for their baby. Then, when the baby is only a few days old, you sign all this official paperwork to get their birth certificate and social security card.
Even in the exhaustion and mental fog of just giving birth, I clearly remember when the woman in the hospital came into our room with the birth certificate papers. She told us to write everything slowly and double check it. It’s not easy to change the baby’s name once it’s submitted in the system, she told us. So make sure you are confident with the name!
Clearly, names stick. Names carry weight. In some cases, they are permanent, or close to it; in others, they stay around for a long time.
I can think of names I was called as a child by others, and names that I spoke over myself. Names that I now know are lies but believed as truth for many years.
“I am different, so that means something must be wrong with me. I’m not enough. I’m lacking in some way.”
When my eyes were opened to the reality of my identity in Christ, it became clear that these were lies. Instead, I began embracing names that God spoke over me. Names that revealed what was actually true about me.
“I am God’s workmanship. I am totally accepted and loved by God. I am complete in Christ.”
This process of renewing my mind—of identifying lies and replacing them with God’s truth—has changed me. My insecurity and shame have been replaced with a healthy confidence and a secure attachment to God. Inside, I feel night and day different.
I wonder what names you’ve been given over the years, and the names you’ve spoken over yourself. How have they affected you? Have you taken the time to investigate whether these names align with who God says you are?
What about names you’ve spoken to others? Do the names you’ve called others, whether in public or private, reflect God’s heart for them? Do they echo His love to the world?
Names matter. They identify. They reveal. They honor.
Our ability to name things reflects God’s image in us, and it continues to be one of the most powerful ways we reflect God to the world. Let’s use it to join Him in His work of freedom and restoration!