I’ve been thinking about what it means to take Christ’s name upon us. I guess I have always thought that it meant trying to become like Him and to do what He would do. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it in a different way. In our culture, generally speaking, when a woman marries she takes her husband’s name. Having never been married, I’m not sure I understand the full implications of that, but it seems that she becomes one with him. They are a unit together. While they can still act and think independently of the other, they will both be striving for the same goals and helping each other to achieve them. The woman’s identity is tied to her husband’s because she is known to others by his last name rather than her maiden name. I have talked to several married women that I know and asked them what it meant for them to take their husband’s name. I got different responses back. One said that it was really hard for her to “give up” her maiden name. Another told me that she was happy to do it. She and her husband are a unit, and because they have different strengths and weaknesses, they can help each other. One woman told me that she doesn’t even think about it as being her husband’s name. It is just their name or their family name. The scriptures say that Christ is the bridegroom. When we partake of the gospel covenant, in a sense, we give ourselves to Christ as a woman gives herself to her husband. We take His name upon us. We should counsel with Him and become one with Him. Our identity becomes tied to His identity.
As I try to truly take His name upon me by aligning my thoughts and actions more fully with His will, I hope that I become identified by who He is more than by who and what I was before I made those covenants.
