Perhaps you have worked out by now that I am a music enthusiastic, especially when it comes to Hip Hop and RnB, (you may have also worked out other things like my hatred of generalisations, my love for Drake and Kanye West, the tendency to make horrible jokes in my posts to keep the reader entertained and my habit of signing every blog post off with “love Cris” and then a P.S that’s if you are a regular on ThePromisciousPen. Where was I going with this again?) and so I like to make parallels between music and my subjects I wish to discuss and this was definitely the thinking behind this particular Jesus Piece. So without further ado (I waffle far too much, I really should speak to my shrink about this. Joke I do not have a shrink) here is Say my name, Say my name, Jesus vs. Destiny’s Child.
In the early 2000’s Destiny’s Child’s hit single “say my name” was released (if you are not aware of this song please refer to YouTube) and the gist of the single was a woman asking her boyfriend to say her name to prove that he wasn’t cheating. I’m aware of the fact that there is more to the song but it’s not that important for the sake of this article, however the reason why I felt the title of the song was important to a discussion on the name of Jesus hinges on Acts 3 and Acts 4.
Acts 3 details the story of the lame man who used to sit by the beautiful gate (I love that the gate is called beautiful) everyday begging for money from passers-by. This was a man that was handicapped from birth and so everyday he was carried to the gate so that he might receive change from the people entering the temple courts. I just want you to briefly imagine the homeless man you see on your way home, on your way to school or on your way to work every day, who sits outside the train station, underneath the bridge or in between an alleyway hoping that someone will notice and give something. The Bible in this scripture doesn’t tell us about the facial characteristics of the man, we only know that he is lame, so for a moment just put the face of the homeless man that you see every day to the image of the lame man within the scripture. When the disciples i.e. Peter and John saw this man Peter said something extraordinary,
“Look at us…Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give to you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk. “ Acts 3:6
There are many remarkable things about this scripture (even its sheer simplicity is remarkable) and I truly believe it should be a lesson that we constantly refer to as Christians trying to navigate this thing called life.
The first remarkable thing is Peter’s recognition that he has nothing in the worldly sense because he lacks ‘silver and gold’. We know the language of the world is money just as the expression “money talks” suggests. I am in no way stating that money is a bad thing ( I love free money like birthday money lol) but what I am drawing our attention to is that Peter effectively says he has nothing in monetary form to give. In other words he had nothing to give in the worldly sense which is what the beggar was expecting. It is unclear whether or not Peter and John had no money at the time or no money to spare generally but what is clear is the recognition that money wasn’t their treasure. Observe the way they didn’t boast about money but boasted in the name of Jesus alone. The expression worth your weight in gold comes to mind , which literally means extremely valuable or extremely useful and Peter recognises that he is not worth his weight in gold but the Name of Jesus is.
The second remarkable thing although I briefly discussed it in the above paragraph is Peter speaking on something he does have- The Name of Jesus. There is this beautiful thing that Peter does that sometimes we fail to do as Christians which is to rely in, boast in, hope in, draw strength from, cling to and make reference to the Name of Jesus. Peter’s complete trust in Jesus’ Name is clear. He goes as far as to say he has nothing else but the Name of Jesus which is so powerful as to even heal a man that has been lame all his life. Do we not see how amazing this name is? Where is our similar conviction in the Name of Jesus? Christians have nothing but the name of Jesus, Peter understood that, the rest of the disciples understood that (well maybe not Judas lol) but why are we not saying his name?
The third remarkable thing is that Peter continued to brag about the name of Jesus in Acts 4.
Then know this, you and all the people of Israel; it is by the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God has raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed”.Acts 4: 10
The first time I read these scriptures, the way I viewed the name of my Lord changed. There is power in his name. Say his name, do things in his name, recognise that you have nothing but the Name of Jesus.
Jesus wants us to say his name and brag on his name the way rappers brag about their Lamborghini lifestyles (well not quite but you get my drift.) There is so much power in the name. Recognise that you are nothing and have nothing but the name of Jesus so begin to speak it over your situations, your heartbreaks, your job woes, career ambitions, family problems because it has the power to make whole, to restore and uplift the way it did in the case of the lame man.
Jesus is saying “say my name, say my name” but maybe not quite in the same way Destiny’s Child’s intended.
It’s a beautiful name to call on.
Love Cris x
P.S That Destiny’s child aint got nothing on my Lord but it sure was a good track.