My dear boy,
The weight that naming ceremonies carry is that, at the base of it all, it is but the installation of a program. I have been to a few ceremonies, and have had the rare privilege of officiating at a few of those. A couple of the babies have been named after me, just as I have been blessed to godfather a fraction of that number.
Well, as powerful as names are, sometimes we find that in the lives of men, there is a disconnect between the reality captured by a name and the life lived, such that a person can have a name that connotes goodwill, success, abundance, favor, and whatnot, only to be in the perpetual experience of everything contrary to the name they bear. On the other hand, we find someone whose name has no supposed prophetic meaning, as we interpret it within our African cosmology, yet experiences all the goodness of life. This is because a man is powered by programming rather than the name he bears. Remember, the clothes don’t make the man, even though the clothes can tell you something about the man. However, the man remains the man, still.
A man is the programming on which he runs. Hence, you can have a man running on a programming of success while bearing a name that seems contrary to it. Case in point: Bush. George W. Bush. You wonder: He ended up president of the free world, whereas a contemporary of his can have the finest name on the earth yet be found on the lower rungs of life. It’s important to understand that names are but the summaries of programs, in that when a program is created, it is named.
In other words, a program name or program title is the identifying label given to a course, corporate initiative, software project, or membership scheme designed to communicate its core purpose, audience, and value. It then follows that when a name is stamped on a person, it is believed that a corresponding program has been installed. It therefore suffices to suppose that naming becomes, by and large, the installation of a program.
However, a program can be installed but not activated. Case in point, Jesus meets a man, Simon. Simon, we understand, is a reed, a weakling, fearful; not because his name means any of the foregoing. That is the programming. Jesus names this man “Peter,” meaning dependable. Rock, strong, formidable. That is a program which, through naming, has been installed. That program is not activated until the day of Pentecost. Because it is on that day that the program becomes activated, and he enters into the reality of the program. It begins to run on autopilot.
Before then, we find that he denies Jesus. Someone who is dependable, who is formidable, who is reliable, ought not to do so against all odds. Abraham, that’s a program. God, by naming him “Abraham,” installs a new program. Upon its installation, because it is activated by faith, it begins to run in him. “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.” Once a man is breathed upon, there is that activation.
Now you ask yourself, How do I activate this? You activate this by renewing your mind. Now watch this: Jabez is named “Pain.” We understand that he was more honorable than his brethren. But the program ensures that what he ought to get, he doesn’t get. As such, the program is rewritten. But the name stays. Following, we find that what matters more is the program, not the name; because, contrary to the name, the program will run. Therefore, the most important thing is the program that is being installed.
Granted, a naming ceremony is not a mere ceremony. It is the witnessing of the installation of a program, which can be activated by the person in whom such a program has been installed. By renewing their mind, they empower their minds to run the program against the odds of their physical location, their present condition, or a predicament they may find themselves in. That programming which is installed is what powers their life; they act from that.
Invariably, names are program titles. Nevertheless, just because a program has been labeled wrongly will not stop it from running. Recall, Bush. Likewise, when you observe Peter on the day of Pentecost, he says, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” We see that his mind is renewed. He has come into the knowledge of the truth of the reality of the time he has found himself in. In order to have any program run, the mind must permit the program to run. It is of little consequence who may have it installed; its activation relies on the system in which it is installed.
Love,
Dad.
