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A Mistaken Name

Ulysses S Grant was not really the 18th President of the United States. 

No, I'm not talking about a rigged election, or denying the results of the 1868 election. I'm talking about his name. His parents named him Hiram Ulysses Grant, and that was his name throughout his childhood and teenage years. But when Hiram (who actually preferred his middle name) received his appointment to West Point, a clerical error had him enlisted under the name Ulysses S Grant. There is no record of Grant objecting to the mistake, and he embraced his new name. He went by the initials U.S. for a time, but since those letters also stood for Uncle Sam, his military friends dubbed him "Sam."

So Grant went by a variety of names over the course of his life, but history remembers him for a name that was not truly his--Ulysses S Grant. The war hero-turned-President and eventual author brought fame to a name that did not belong to him. 

That is what Christians are called to do. We are tasked with bringing fame to a name that is not our own. In Psalm 34:3 King David wrote, "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!"

This is contrary to how people are naturally wired. If we are going to magnify a name, we want it to be our own. But what good is that? We lift up the name of Jesus because there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)." 

Therefore, we should spend our lives making another name famous, the name of Jesus. The world can forget my name, or even remember me by the wrong the name; I don't care. I just want the world to know Jesus, because He can save them from their sins.

I will join David in magnifying the Lord. Let us exalt His name together!

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