See yourself

October 30, 2007


Genesis 17:5 VW
(5) No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.


I always wondered why the name change. God had a simple reason. He need to get Abram to change his image. Abram in the Hebrew means high-father. Usually this meant the one who rules. But Abraham meant father of many nations. By changing his image from one who is a ruler (which he did as he was a rich man) to one who had many children, God changed Abram's image of himself.

We often have to do the same thing. While we do not do anything as drastic as a name change, we need to change our image of ourselves. If we do not, we will not see us as God sees us.