I make a point in this blog to use the name “Jesus” as much as possible. Even in the title, I use the entire name of Jesus Christ (if you leave “Christ” off you get a page that redirects you here).

The reason I do this is that, if you watch, people will often shy away from the word “Jesus”. “God” is acceptable: it has a vagueness that makes it palatable for people with a wide variety of beliefs. But “Jesus” is challenging. It’s very specific. It challenges us to believe in a certain religion, to accept the idea of God existing in a man with a name that, in His day, was as common as “Joe” or “Mike”. The Hebrew name of Jesus was “Y’shua” (we get “Jesus” from the Greek version of the name, because the New Testament was written in Greek) and is still in common use today in its English version, Joshua.

You see, I believe that to say “Jesus” is to push back against the world. It’s to establish His name as more than just a cuss word, more than a concept, more than a joke. It’s to state that God can be known by human beings on a first name basis. When we let His name be relegated to comedies and vulgar language, we teach people to laugh and ignore it when they hear the name “Jesus”. And if they teach themselves to ignore it, how will they ever learn this Truth:

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Thank you, and have a good day. Amen!