Hebraic Musing – Why does God keep saying “...for My name’s sake.”?
Have you noticed
that many Christians tend to view God through a “What have you done for me
lately?” relationship. That makes me
think back to the famous closing line from President Kennedy’s inauguration
speech when he said, “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country
can do for you, but rather ask what can you do for your country.” If we substitute the word “God” for the word “Country”
in that quote, we get an accurate picture of what our relationship should look
like with Our Lord God.
Somewhere along
our journey with Christ, some have become misaligned in the expectations of the
Father. We have come to a point of
seeing all that He does in our experiences as being done for us. Wrong! In 83 verses throughout both Testaments in
Scripture, we’ll find the attributions of His actions are “...for My name’s
sake.” His name is holy, and Jews today
cannot even write it in complete spelling, using “G-d” to indicate His
unspeakable, sanctified name. In truth,
the Father does ALL things that benefit us as actions that glorify and please
Him! And, while we are blessed by Him in
so many, many ways, His actions are not solely for our pleasure, deliverance or
growth. His actions are performed so
that we respond with worship and praise for Him...for His majesty, greatness
and unbounded mercy.
Many Scriptures bear
out the Lord’s desire for His recognition and praise. For
example:
· “For
my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I
hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off.” Isaiah 48:9
· “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Acts 9:16
· “I
write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on
account of his name.” 1 John 2:12
· “You have persevered and have endured hardships for
my name, and have not grown weary.” Revelation 2:3
It has been argued
by some over the years that the sole reason He created man was to be worshiped
and magnified in His glory. I don’t know
if that is true, but it certainly falls into line with His continually doing
His work in our world “...for My name’s sake.”
It’s always about
Him. Always! No exceptions! Lest the thought come into our consciousness
that God is being selfish, we need only to be reminded of John 3:16-17 and the
incredible love that the Father expressed in the sacrifice of His only Son. But why did He make this sacrifice? Again, it circles back to Him: We have been
bought, restored and cleansed to renew our relationship with Him for HIS
benefit as well as ours. He desires our
attention, praise and worship. And
living in sin, we could not afford Him that love. So He saved us through Christ. Not for us only, but for His pleasure
primarily.
We can marvel at
the ingenuity of the Father in His transaction with us. Yes, He sacrificed His Son to death so that we
might live. And in so doing, He defeated
the enemy’s hold on us through mortal death and decay. BUT...the Father truly lost nothing in this
transaction. He did not lose His Son,
because He was resurrected from the grave and lives, now seated at His right
hand in heaven. Father lost nothing. We gained everything. What came off the Cross was restored along
with our correct relationship with the Father again. But while we received the immeasurable
blessing of eternal, problem-free life, God received back His creation in its
proper form and place to resume worshiping Him “in Spirit and Truth.” We were involved, yes. But we were not the sole motivation in His act
of salvation for humanity. He wanted it
for His pleasure. And what He wants, He
gets. The Jewish “Shema” is prayed three
times a day is a statement of what the Lord expects from us. “Hear, O Israel, the LORD your God is one.
Worship Him with all your heart, soul and strength.”
Points
to Ponder
Worship
Him always and in all ways.
We
serve Him at His pleasure.
It’s
what He expects from us and why He saved us. Let us not forget that.
“He restores my
soul. He guides me in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake.” Psalm 23:3 NIV
Yosef a.k.a. Joe
Brusherd August
26, 2025
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our
faith”
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)” Weekly “Hebraic
Musings”
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