If I say "dandelion," what do you think of?...
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If I say "dandelion," what do you think of? (an ugly weed)
If I say "rose," what do you think of? (a beautiful, aromatic flower)
Now if I say "Adolf Hitler," that name conjures up pictures of a murderous German dictator, a demonic being.
But when I say the name "Mother Teresa," we might picture a wrinkled, old woman reaching out to the poorest of the poor in India, a humble servant of God, an angel in a nun's habit.
What would you rather be -- a dandelion or a rose? An Adolf Hitler or a Mother Teresa? The psalmist wrote "A good name is more desirable than great riches" (Proverbs 22:1a NIV). In Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The message: names of things don't matter, only what things are.
If I say "rose," what do you think of? (a beautiful, aromatic flower)
Now if I say "Adolf Hitler," that name conjures up pictures of a murderous German dictator, a demonic being.
But when I say the name "Mother Teresa," we might picture a wrinkled, old woman reaching out to the poorest of the poor in India, a humble servant of God, an angel in a nun's habit.
What would you rather be -- a dandelion or a rose? An Adolf Hitler or a Mother Teresa? The psalmist wrote "A good name is more desirable than great riches" (Proverbs 22:1a NIV). In Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The message: names of things don't matter, only what things are.
