Ebenezer (Scrooge)

Names have meanings and they denote, in other words, they are signs, and indications that inform us when we seek knowledge and understanding. Your name has significance and I hope you like your given name, and that it suits you? If not, if you have always disliked the name by which you are called, it may be that you were misnamed, and who you are was mislabelled. When reading The Bible, it is eye opening and eyebrow lifting, when the meaning of names is disclosed: nothing is haphazard with God, everything is purposeful, and the characters that come alive in Biblical stories, live into their names, and when said characters belong to God, they are often renamed; ie Abram becomes Abraham, Sarai changes to Sarah, and Jacob is renamed Israel.  

Name Change, Roles defined

● Abram means exalted father; Abraham means father of a multitude. God marks Abraham in a special way as his servant with this name change (Genesis 17:5-6)

● Sarai means worthy of a dynasty, princess; Sarah means princess with an upgrade, the mother of nations and kings and thus to serve the Lord's purposes (Genesis 17:15-16)

● Jacob, the name became proverbial with the unsavoury quality of deceptiveness - he famously defrauded his twin brother Esau of his first born son inheritance via trickery (Genesis 25:26); Israel means one who prevails with God after wresting with him - Jacob submits to God prevailing in his life, and from him, all the blessings pronounced to Abraham, the tribes of Israel, were fulfilled (Genesis 32:28).

Now I entitled this piece of writing Ebenezer (Scrooge), because of name meaning and  the evolution of the soul as depicted in the original story of Scrooge, or the film commonly known as A Christmas Carol. 

Ebenezer means: hitherto the Lord has helped us 

Scrooge means: a person who is stingy with money

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (1 Samuel 7:12)

Man alive, I love this name combo of Ebenezer and Scrooge; it depicts our human nature, does it not? The good of God bestowed, God helping us every step of the way and thus far, while the bulk, the heaviness of the population, thanks him not, with tight fists they grip what they get, and despite the help the Lord has hitherto provided, he is denied at every turn. The beauty of A Christmas Carol is the ultimate help that God gives Scrooge at the end of his stingy life, to see that what has been bestowed, was not to be held onto as a life line, but was to be used in blessing others. 

Ebenezer was given the gift of being saved from the grave of eternal darkness. Ebenezer was grateful, cheery, joyful, ready to recognize the help of the Lord, and I ask you, dear reader, after a materialistic and money not well spent Christmas "season", are you sick and tired, perhaps even exhausted, with the nonsense, the duplicity, the double speak and double mindedness, the wiping out of one good thing - one good name - with another that besmirches rather than highlighting blessing? 

Christ the King is the name above all names. Jesus is besmirched each time we replace him with false gods, and each time he is spoken of in a derogatory manner. No, I say No, I will not hear or accept this blasphemous misnaming, and will declare him God of gods, King of kings, and Ruler of the universe, and no other name will supplant, supersede, replace, or remove him from eternal preeminence in my life. 

Grace is my middle name, and it means the unmerited favour of God. I like this as a reminder, that nothing I can do or say awards me merit, and that God's favour is his gift, not my claim to some kind of personal fame. Like Ebenezer, I have learned that God is my hitherto and always helper, and I pray you know he is yours too. 

Look into your name; learn how it has influenced who you are, and how you have lived, and whether or not a change of heart that leans on God as your ever present provider, will provide you a new name from which you can serve his people, and glorify his name, through Christ, our Lord, Amen.