The New Nombre

When a person believes on the Lord and is saved, they become a Christian. There are also several other things we call ourselves, such as believers, saints, the body of Christ, the family of God, and probably several other things I can't call to mind right now. But there's also another name for us that we don't hear very often, and that is Sought Out. I found this in Isaiah 62:12, that says, "And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called; Sought Out, a city not forsaken." We have been redeemed by the Lord. Jesus paid a HUGE price to save us! Besides the years He spent on earth being rejected and living in a lowly position, His death is almost unfathomable. He was whipped with 40 lashes, which is almost murder in itself, because that was the absolute maximum amount you could beat someone without them dying. And then after He carried His own cross for a long way, He had huge nails driven through His wrists and feet that attached Him to a crude, splintery cross. Then the soldiers sat at the foot of that cross to enjoy a game of cards while they waited for Him to die so they could go home.

And because of this huge price, we are supposed to be holy. When I try to tell little kids about God's holiness, I define it as "absolutely perfect, not sinning at all." I think most of us already know that we're supposed to be holy too, so we don't do a lot of the things the world does that we know to be wrong. But I think we also oftentimes overlook certain areas of that 'not sinning at all' part. We tend to look at the "little" sins like getting angry, or being proud, or complaining, as rather trivial and we don't really feel that bad when we do them. But God hates sin, and it grieves Him very much when we commit even the "smallest" one. And yet, sometimes it's just so hard to remember not to do those things, especially if they are a habit in our lives.

That's where the name Sought Out comes in. When I hear the name of something, an image immediately comes to my mind. If I hear the name 'elephant' I immediately get an image in my mind of a massive, grey land animal bearing four legs, big ears, and two thick tusks. Why? Because ever since I was a little tiny kid, I have seen pictures about elephants, my mom has told me various facts about elephants, I've seen elephants in the zoo, I've read about elephants, I've thought about elephants, and I've learned about elephants in movies. They're kind of a part of my life, just like bees and flowers and paper and computers. Now we can make the name Sought Out a part of our lives, so that whenever we think of it or say it, we'll remember the verse that says we are redeemed of the Lord, we are a city not forsaken (Jesus is with us all the time to help us), and we need to be holy.

So my challenge to you is this: every time you hear the word ‘Christian,’ you remember what Christ has done for you. And every time you call yourself a believer, you think about what you believe in, and if you remember our new name, Sought Out, you think about the price Jesus paid for you, and your responsibility to remember that you are a city not forsaken, and the things you need to do (no matter how small) to be holy.