The Name That Sets You Free

In Victor Hugo's classic brought to screen in Les Misérables, there is a moment that reshapes everything. Jean Valjean, a man defined for nineteen years by a prison number — 24601 — stands before a bishop whose silver he has just stolen. When the police drag Valjean back, Bishop Myriel does something stunning. He does not confirm the theft. Instead, he hands Valjean the silver candlesticks as well and says, in effect, "You are not a thief. You are my brother."

In that single act, the bishop refuses to let a prison number define a human soul. He looks past the rap sheet, past the hardened exterior, past everything the world has stamped on this man, and speaks a new identity over him. And Valjean spends the rest of his life growing into that identity — becoming a mayor, a father, a man of mercy — because someone first saw who he could be rather than who he had been.

This is precisely what the Almighty does for every one of us. The world hands us labels — failure, addict, divorced, not enough. But God speaks a different name. "You are Mine," He says. "You are chosen, beloved, redeemed." Second Corinthians 5:17 reminds us that in Christ, we are a new creation. The old identity has gone.

The question is not what name the world has given you. The question is whether you will believe the name God has spoken over you.