My Name is Sterl

My wife doesn’t know my name.  I know her name, but she doesn’t know mine.  She calls me Stuff or Stool. My kids call me Stecl.  Maybe, it shouldn’t surprise me since many people who have known me since infancy don’t know it either.  It’s Sterl. Not Sterling or short for Sterling. It’s Sterling without the “ing.” It’s not Sterile, Steryl or Sterle, and it’s not two syllables.  It’s a long, single-syllable name… like Earl. As a child, I was a little embarrassed at having an unusual name, but now I like it. I’m a one-name person like Elvis, Madonna or Cher.

We are all unique in God’s sight.  Though we are all a lot the same, in many ways, we vary wildly.  This individuality is both a strength and a weakness. While it’s harder to reach a consensus on anything, it’s easier to find answers in difficult situations if you have a lot of options.  This is God’s plan. Scripture warns us that it is unwise to compare ourselves to one another. God takes people with differences and unites them in a common cause- His cause. In God’s service, many components become one building, many sheep one flock, many members one body. 

God never loses sight of our personhood.  He doesn’t want to make us like someone else; He wants to make us like Himself.  We become obstacles to our development when we try to artificially imitate personalities not our own.  Because we receive so much advice, it’s sometimes hard to understand that God can use our own brands- even if we submit it wholly to Him.  His will is the key. Others may try to conform us to themselves, but we must steadfastly resist the urge to copycat and become fully-formed children of God in our own rights.  Be your best self and not some cheap imitation.

A loved song intones, “He knows my name.”  God knows everything about us. He is more aware of us than we are of ourselves.  Every sheep in His flock has a name, and He knows them all by heart. So sure is He of our strengths and weaknesses that He never places us in ultimate jeopardy or sets us up for failure.  We all are accepted in, by and because of His beloved Son. Every plan of God is for our good.

All believers are originals.  Nothing escapes God’s sight or grasp.  We are ever on His mind. God’s overreaching and undergirding love has been a certain conviction and constant comfort to me- even though my mother-in-law called me Steve.

Sterl