The Ministry of a Clear Name
“O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Thy praise.” Psalm 51:15
Your name and mine is important. When people hear YOUR name, what comes to their mind? Well think about it. If I said the name Lee Harvey Oswald – what comes to your mind? John F. Kennedy? Bill Clinton? William Raws?
However, God’s name is far more important than our name. Dr. Glynn Evans in his daily devotional book, DAILY WITH THE KING writes: I must at all times engage in the “ministry of a clear name.” But it must be God’s name, not mine. The clear-name ministry is one in which I represent God as He truly is. I must not spend my time clearing my name, for that is God’s responsibility.
However, God’s name is far more important than our name. Dr. Glynn Evans in his daily devotional book, DAILY WITH THE KING writes: I must at all times engage in the “ministry of a clear name.” But it must be God’s name, not mine. The clear-name ministry is one in which I represent God as He truly is. I must not spend my time clearing my name, for that is God’s responsibility.
The sin of Moses that kept him out of the Promised Land was dishonoring God before the people (Numbers 20:10-13). He struck the rock instead of just speaking to it, thus disbelieving God and dessanctifying Him in the eyes of the Israelites (v.12). To deliberately disobey God is to disbelieve Him, and that, especially on the part of a leader, is to humiliate Him before His people. God will not tolerate humiliation by any of His servants because it is a shadow of Lucifer’s sin of elevating Himself above God (Isaiah 14:14).
My duty is to elevate, sanctify, honor, and clear God’s name before the people at all times, as Jesus did: “I have glorified thee on earth” (John 17:4). Now I understand why God punished Moses so severely: he was a leader, his was public, and he sorely wounded God’s glory.
If I spend my time clearing God’s name, I will have no time to clear my own. I must never be willing to justify myself, as the young lawyer did (Luke 10:29). There is a time, of course, to “reason together” with God (Isaiah 1:18), during which God is willing to hear all my arguments and reasons for a certain thing. But once God has given His verdict, self-justification should stop and God justification should begin. This is a mark of a mature disciple: do I make my brief for God, or do I plead my own case in the eyes of men?
If I fulfill “the royal law” I will know the “worthy name by … which I am called (James 2:7-8); if I “let my light shine before men … I will glorify my father, who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
So my brothers, what is keep you from making God’s name famous in your life? Think about it, then purpose to make the necessary changes in your life to represent HIS name in your life. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Dig This Quote: “The infinite value of each human soul is not a Christian doctrine. God did not die for man because of some value He perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God is zero. As St. Paul writes, to have died for valuable men would have been, not divine, but merely heroic; but God died for sinners. He loved us, not because we were lovable, but because He is love.” CS Lewis
Determined Digging: Level 1: John 14:27; Level 2: Matthew 6:25-29
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