"Hello! My name is..."

"The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb He named me." Is 49:1
If there is any question whether or not you have value, you need not look any further than you name. Your name is the primary indicator that are are indeed valuable. When someone asks you who you are you don't just say "I'm a girl" or "I'm a guy"...you have a name. "I'm Cherie" or "I'm Oliver". Now if we stop right here we have already proven that you were not just a gooey ball of "life form" that evolved into various stages of mammal..Other mammals don't have names for one another. Man has given them names according to species but each and every animal roaming the earth does not have a special name. We do tend to give our pets special names...and what does this mean? That we value this animal more than the others. The pet is now a part of the family. You always hear the classic farm chat..."Don't name the chickens cuz if you do you will get attached and be harder to make into dinner!" See the chicken is no longer just a chicken. Her name is "Coco" and now she has value beyond her chicken counterparts. So the very fact that we have have names and often got them before we were even born tell us we have value. You are not an animal you are (insert your name here).

Our name is the very root of our identity. In the Holman Bible Dictionary under the word "Name" it says this..."The biblical concept of naming was rooted in the ancient worlds understanding that a name expressed essence. To know the name of a person was to know that person's total character and nature." We learn this at a very young age. You first learn who you are by learning what your name is. That is why when we are called bad names as a child it can be extremely hurtful to us because it already messes with our sense of identity and who we know ourselves to be. In turn the bad names that we are being called contradict our value and essence or spirit.

My son and I were at the park one day. All the kids were running around crazy like they always do. All the sudden I hear this one particular kid taunting my son Parker. "Pony Boy! Pony Boy!" now what he meant I have no idea but Parker's reaction tells all. "I am NOT Pony Boy" he yelled "I'm Parker!!!!" Parker was 2 yrs old when this happened. He already had a grasp on the essence of his identity.

Now in this day and age the is a HUGE attack on our identity even down to the very essence of our name. We have avatars, login names, video game names, gang names, stripper names and they all slowly sneak us away fro our true identity and who we really are. For some they have become so unhappy with who they are they don't even use their real name. These people create an alternate identity for themselves. Why don't you see strippers with the name "Sally Johnson"? Usually it is more like "Foxy Brown" or "Candy Stripe".

Your name is your identity and your identity gives you value. You are worth more than the other mammals walking the earth! Now what all these avatars and game names and stripper names have allowed us to do is break with our own identity and value. In turn it allows others to break with our identity and value as well. See the guy in the strip club doesn't think he is looking at a real person named "Sally Johnson". He is looking at a piece of meat called "Cany Stripe".Sally has devalued herself by removing her name. Now the guy can devalue her because in essence she has no name.