And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called ‘Cephas’ (which, when translated, is Peter).” ~ John 1:42
READING: John 1:35-42
What’s in a name? Just ask Peter. He was impulsive and unstable. He was prone to make promises he couldn’t keep and he even denied Jesus three times in one night. Peter was anything but the rock that Jesus dubbed him. Yet Jesus saw him as more than what he was at that moment. He saw what he could become.
When Jesus sees us, He sees more, more than we are right now. He sees us through a future lens that highlights our high potential, all we can be, our fullness as made in the image of God, the product of the Spirit’s transforming presence. Jesus sees us with God’s Kingdom eyes, and that means accepting us with love and a rich inheritance, and yet transforming us to be more than we presently are.
Jesus sees us through the lens of His transforming grace, His commitment to mold us into His image. There is “more than we are” in each of us – more love, more stability, more maturity, more holiness, more resilience and more joy. Just ask Him. He walks with us today, always bearing in His mind the image of what He will make of us.
What new name might Jesus be in the process of giving you? The stable one? Mr. Patient? Mr. Cheerful? Faithful? Warrior? The Servant Leader? Nothing is too hard for our God and no personality so fractured that He cannot heal and renew it.
Lord, You love me just as I am, but too much to leave me that way. You see me as so much more. Continue to remake me to be more than I am. Amen.
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