Epithet

Since February, I have been refinishing a dining table I bought from the classifieds. I’ve made a real mess of the garage and invested more materials, time, and effort than I planned on. I’ve also used two containers of something called “odorless mineral spirits”. I find it marginally irritating the tonic is not odorless. If I were in the business of selling mineral spirits and could only use one word to describe my product, I’d at least choose a word that was true.

This last time I opened the “odorless” mineral spirits to wipe away yet another round of espresso-colored goo from my dream farmhouse table’s teak planks, I snapped. Odorless lie!

Then I immediately thought of Jesus, and so many of his one-word names began to flood my crabby mind. Deliverer. Counsellor. Rock. Advocate. Mediator. Shepherd. Redeemer. Healer. Exemplar. Light. Friend. And even though I was alone, and wearing a whitestrip under an n95, I smiled. Within moments, I felt perfectly happy inside knowing all of the Savior’s names are true; none of them are lies. He is everything He says He is.

Whatever you need in your life right now, Jesus Christ has a name for it, and you can have faith in that name.