Isaiah wrote:
“Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare a way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.” Isaiah 62:10 NIV
I guy named “biscuet” has come home from China where he has been living among college students. Biscuet is not his real name, it is a name he has carried with him since the sixth grade where he misspelled the word in a spelling bee. Under the pressure of the bright lights and his academic future, he sounded out the letters, “B…I…S…C…U…E…T.” The infamous response that got him ousted from the tournament and a full ride to Harvard became his nickname which he has carried with him since he was twelve years old. It stuck with him through high school, his time at Auburn University, and has also become the name that a group of Chinese college students call him. I can imagine a mob of dark haired, yellow skin friends chanting “Biscuet! Biscuet! Biscuet!”
The real story of it all is that not only have they come to know the name Biscuet, but they have come to know the name Jesus. And through the process the name Biscuet has become less and less and the name Jesus has become more and more. Biscuet was merely the vehicle that prepared the way for the name of Jesus. A banner has been raised over a nation of millions. On the banner is the name Jesus. It is not Biscuet. And I get the sense that this was his intention all along.
I can’t tell you Biscuet’s real name. I have read though his website (biscuet.com) and couldn’t find it. What I did find often is the name “Jesus” and the word “love” occurs frequently. My conclusion is that this is what he is about and is on the banner that he holds up over his life. What a great thing to be known for: “Jesus.” Way to go, Biscuet!
Still too many hold up the name of their movement, organization, ministry, or church. Others hold up the mission field where they work as if it’s the only place on earth inhabited by people who live in darkness and need Jesus. And with others, Jesus is still held up, but the other names are attached; maybe a little lower—a little higher. I believe this is because deep below the surface, we still want attention; not all of it, but enough of it, enough of it for people to know who we are.
Perhaps we should try a little harder to move off the map. Perhaps the only name we should find joy in proclaiming is the name of Jesus. What a worthy name to put on the banner over our lives.
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