"She's just a troublemaker."
My daughter returned home from a high school dance, came and sat on my bed, and proceeded to describe for me her evening. Who she danced with, the slow songs with her boyfriend, and of course….the troublemakers. I knew them – we all do. Living in a small town, it's easy to know who fits where – the athletes, the actors, the musicians, the entrepreneurs…and the troublemakers.
The names we call ourselves have power. Our labels can define us. Sometimes, that's a good thing – like the names I give my children: Princess, or Super Pete. But sometimes they can trap us into the past, into a mistake, into an identity we long to discard. Messy. High Maintenance. Troublemaker.
I'm writing the third book in my "PJ Sugar – Trouble" series. I love PJ because she feels like someone I could hang out with – she's redeemed, but sometimes she still wonders how God can use her. In this book, she is tired of being Nothing but Trouble and she is trying to figure out who else she might be.
I Peter 1:9 has some suggestions: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God…."
I love those names: Chosen. Royal priesthood. Holy. Belonging to God. I love how, when God picks someone – Jacob, and Peter, for example – he changes their name. They're no longer the thief (Jacob), or the troublemaker (Peter). God has changed our names, too. Joint Heirs. Beloved.
Do you have a name you long to discard? It's time to hear God's voice, God's name for you. Start a list somewhere – in the back of your Bible, perhaps — of all the names God has for you.
Here's your first one: Zephaniah 3:17 – The Delight of the Lord.
