May I change my name to reflect a turning point in my life

Shayla: May I change my name to reflect a turning point in my life?

Meforshim:

I understand your desire completely. I too changed my name. I was given the name “Kevin” by my parents. It means “kind”. It’s a wonderful name. There’s nothing wrong with the name. But it was Kevin who did all those nasty things in my past. It was Kevin who stole, lied, fought, injured others needlessly, dabbled in drugs and wrecked his life. Thank Adonai I can claim Paul’s promise:

1 Corinthians 6:11 HCSB (11) Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I became a Christian, went to Bible school, and nearly lost my way while there. But thank God I went into the Marine Corps and while stationed in California, I met a godly man who helped turn my life around. I still had consequences from earlier sins that I had to deal with but from that point on in my life, solid progress began. I chose to mark that turning point in my life by actively embracing a nickname that some drill instructor had randomly given me: “Cajun”. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the name “Kevin”, but I had ruined it. Through my own fault, it became associated with all those wicked things in my mind.

“Cajun” got straightened out. “Cajun” began regularly ministering in churches, not because it was a job to do, but because he couldn’t help loving the Lord and trying to serve Him in some way. “Cajun” reached out to street kids and gang-bangers. “Cajun” turned a successful martial arts career into a ministry to MMA athletes. I left “Kevin” behind and I’ve claimed “Cajun” as a promise of new things from God.

But you know me, the only thing that really matters is the Word. So what does the Word have to say on the subject? When we struggle against the will of God, we can receive a new name – a bad one: “Not my people”. But when we bow to our rightful King, we are again renamed.

Hosea 1:9-10 HCSB Then the LORD said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God. (10) Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.
Hosea 2:23 HCSB I will sow her in the land for Myself, and I will have compassion on No Compassion; I will say to Not My People: You are My people, and he will say: You are My God.
Romans 9:24-26 HCSB on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (25) As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved." (26) And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

Jacob, the sneaky usurper, wrestled with God one dark crisis-filled night and as a result, he was given a new name by none other than the Son of God.

Genesis 32:27-28 HCSB "What is your name?" the man asked. "Jacob!" he replied. (28) "Your name will no longer be Jacob," He said. "It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

Interestingly, if you take the two syllables “isra” and “el”, you have someone who wrestles with God. But when you put the two syllables together, they mean “God prevails”! Jesus always liked to play with words. This is further indicated in His encounter with Simon.

John 1:41-42 HCSB He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which means "Anointed One"), (42) and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, "You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which means "Rock").

“Simon” means “obediently hears” or “listens”. Apparently, his obedient, listening heart led to the Lord renaming him “Cephas” which means “Rock” but implies a small one. This goes along with Jesus saying that even a small amount of faith can allow one to “move mountains”.

Mass murdering “Saul”, the persecutor, had a miraculous encounter with Christ and made a complete 180˚ turn in his life. It took a while for the Church to accept that the change was real but by Acts 13, they quit referring to him as “Saul” and called him only “Paul”.

Acts 13:9 HCSB Then Saul--also called Paul--filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at the sorcerer

Again, there was meaning to the change. “Saul” or “Shaul” means “asked for”. He was the pride of his mama’s eyes. He was the Jew of Jews, the Pharisee with no ritualistic sins on his conscience, a member of the Sanhedrin who in righteous indignation found nothing wrong with dragging whole families to their deaths. His encounter with the Mashiach’ changed his view of himself. “Paul” means “little”.

1 Corinthians 15:9 HCSB (9) For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Ephesians 3:8 HCSB This grace was given to me--the least of all the saints!--to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,
1 Timothy 1:15 HCSB This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"--and I am the worst of them.

But wait! There’s more, as they say on the infomercials. At some point, all of us will receive a new name from our Master - a private, secret name that only He will call us like a husband does with his wife when in the privacy of their home.

Revelation 2:17 HCSB "Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Jesus said that we would receive yet another name – a public one that all will know.

Revelation 3:11-12 HCSB (11) I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. (12) The victor: I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God--the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God--and My new name.