Do you know the name Marrion Michael Morrison? Marrion Michael Morrison attended the University of Southern California (USC) in 1926 on a football scholarship to study pre-law. Over a summer he took a job helping around a movie studio. He decided to pursue an acting career as opposed to finishing school. He left USC in 1929 to pursue acting and never completed his law degree. His first acting jobs were bit parts in which he was credited as Duke Morrison, a childhood nickname derived from the name of his beloved pet dog. The studio decided that his name wasn’t fitting for the avenue of acting that he was in. So they decided to give him a stage name or professional name. The world today knows him as John Wayne. John Wayne made a decision that ultimately changed the trajectory of his life, so much so that most people don’t even know his given name or much about the man he was before.
Decisions can alter our lives. There are those in the Bible that had such experiences with God or acted in such a way that they were called something different afterwards. Some examples are these, in the Old Testament there is Abram changed to Abraham and Jacob changed to Israel. In the New Testament there was a man named Joses. After an experience with Jesus his character had such an effect that it changed what he was called. Most don’t even know the name Joses, but they most likely know the name Barnabas which is what the Apostles called him. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,)… (Acts 4:36 KJV). This can also be interpreted as “son of encouragement.” Imagine the impact you have to have on the Apostles that they say you encourage us. So much that they say that changed his name. You never read of him ever being called Joses again, but you do find him throughout the book of Acts as Baranabas. We see him spreading the Gospel and encouraging others.
An experience with Jesus can change you so much that you are nearly unrecognizable to those that knew you before. I remember a former classmate seeing me with a Bible in hand and making the comment, “is that John Ballard holding a Bible? I’d never thought I would have seen that.” You see, all things had become new. Although I had the same name, I was a new man. You can have this experience too. Maybe your name won’t be changed, but your character will. Make the decision to alter your life at an altar with Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 WEB Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.