Walking in the Name

For all the peoples walk

each in the name of its god,

but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

– Micah 4:5, ESV

The prophet Micah spoke those words thousands of years ago but they hold true today: “All the peoples walk, each in the name of its god” . Modern men and women may not perform obeisance to statues of Baal, Molech, Asherah, but human nature is such that we inevitably walk in the name of what we worship.

Modern gods

We label ourselves with tattoos and apparel, proclaim our allegiance in social media posts, invest our finances and time, and align our interests with our “gods”. We adopt the language of those gods and frequent websites to learn about them.

Some walk in the name of money, worshiping at the altar of the workplace and the market, confident that their financial security will satisfy and protect them.

Some walk in the name of sports, wearing the apparel of the team they have aligned themselves with and spending money and time to take part in the festivals and games.

Some walk in the name of romance, flying from one relationship to the next and spending the hours between dreaming of how they will one day find the person who will fulfill their deepest desires.

Some walk in the name of entertainment, becoming movie connoisseurs, reading reviews, and debating the finer points of film-making, filling their evenings with television and theater-going.

The list could go on for pages. “All the peoples walk, each in the name of its god.” It’s as true in our day as it was in the time of the biblical prophets.

What way do you walk in?

The question is, Christian, are you walking in the name of the gods of the nations or are you walking in the name Yahweh, the Lord our God? Whose name do people see on you when they interact with you? Whose name is on your lips when you speak? Is it clear that you walk in a different name than the people who love this world?

Christ caused his people to be born again by water and Spirit. We are new creations. We are a new nation and a new people. Walking in the name of the gods of the world is no longer an option for us. We use money, yes, but we don’t look to it for answers. We watch and play sports, yes, but we don’t give teams our allegiance. We desire romance and companionship from the opposite sex, yes, but our dreams are about the glories of Christ and the proclamation of his kingdom. We see movies, yes, but entertainment does not dominate our time because we have been created to work and redeem the time.

My prayer for you this day, my friends, is that you would “walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever,” forsaking the things of this world and counting them all as loss for the sake of Christ. His name alone is worthy of our worship.