Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2.9-11)

In every culture around the world names are important. We begin life with the giving of names. We sustain legacies, through generations into the unsearchable future, through names. We dream of the future by making new names, unheard of before but built up with purpose and passion. A newborn baby takes the name of a grandparent. A child is named after a king, a hero, a vision of greatness.

We give names intuitively, not through compulsion to a cultural construct, but because we innately understand their importance. Our names help define us, isolate us for recognition and connect us to the rest of humanity. At times we disdain a person we don’t know because they share the same name with someone who has hurt us deeply. At other times we subconsciously elevate someone's potential because they share a moniker with someone we respect.

And in all of this, names given and remembered, there is a name that is above all names. Jesus. Jesus the exalted who stood before creation because all things were made by Him, through Him, for Him. Jesus the exalted who is enthroned in celestial glory because He humbled His royal head to die on the cross for our sin like a castigated slave. Jesus the exalted is seated at the right hand of God the Father and His name, and His name alone, is the access to salvation, the only means of atonement from sin. There is no greater name. There is no other name that we can cry out and find eternal, unending grace.

Jesus, I bow my knees and confess that You are Lord, rejoicing that in Your name I am forever restored to the Father.