The Age reported today that Gwen Steffani and her husband Gavin Rossdale have had a third son whom they have named Apollo Bowie Flynn Rossdale – celebrity pregnancy and birth news
Those familiar with the entertainment industry will instantly recognise the origins and significance of those names. Parents often name children in honour of someone or something and/or because their names reflects a hope or faith for the child. Perhaps both are at play in this interesting name selection.
I have been thinking about names and their significance a lot since a speaker at our church a few weeks ago reminded those present that God had lavished his love on people to the extent that we could be called the children of God (1 John 3:1-2). God calls those who believe in Jesus ‘child’.
What a name to have! What significance, destiny and purpose comes from being God’s child.
Often culture sends the signal that people are nobodies, expandable, exploitable commodities. But God has greater hopes for his children – to be useful in his Kingdom and beneficial to his purposes.
‘Child of God’ – a name worth living up to.