The Man Who Gave Away His Name

Rich Mullins wrote one of the most recognizable songs in modern worship — Awesome God — and watched it become an anthem sung in churches across the world. By every measure the industry uses, he had arrived. His name was known. His royalties were enormous. His identity, it seemed, was secure.

But Mullins did something that baffled everyone around him. He instructed his financial team to pay him only the average salary of a working American and give the rest away. Then he left Nashville and moved to a small house on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, where he taught music to children who had never heard of him.

When interviewers asked why, his answer was disarmingly simple. He said he didn't want to be "Rich Mullins the famous Christian artist." He wanted to be a follower of Jesus who happened to write songs. He understood something most of us spend a lifetime learning — that the names the world gives us are never sturdy enough to build a life on.

The Apostle Paul knew this too. He had every credential his culture could offer, yet he counted it all as loss compared to knowing Christ. "I no longer live," he wrote, "but Christ lives in me."

Your deepest identity is not your job title, your reputation, or your greatest accomplishment. It is the name the Almighty has already spoken over you — beloved child.

The world will hand you a hundred labels. Only one was written in eternity.