What's in a name? Yeshua or Jesus?
Messiah didn't seem to be concerned about how I addressed Him. He was more concerned with what was in my heart concerning his Name. I struggled with Yeshua at first, then I realized how when I met someone from another country who adapted or translated her name to make it more comfortable for us in this country, I was struck by how willing, even desirous I was to learn her name as it was given to her out of love, honor and respect for her. So, why was there hesitation within me regarding my Savior's Name? Was it the intimacy I had known when calling Him Jesus or was it something else, age old, not on the conscious mind that brought resistance?
He was happy for me to call Him Jesus, but was silent as I pondered the internal turmoil. He was present in the turmoil but allowed me the grace and freedom to wrestle with my own soul.
Today, I interchangeably call Him by both names but have found His sweet intimate desire to commune with me as I call Him either one. Yeshua is the name He was given and will have for all eternity. Jesus, like any of the other translations and pronunciations of that name various cultures use will all fade away someday, but Yeshua was His given name and still is to this day and will be for all eternity. So, why the resistance? Could it be the way we view the Jewish people? Israel? The Church? Just as my foreign friends appreciated my effort to call them by their given name but in no way ever expected or requested it, how does our Savior think about our calling Him by His given name?
I propose that it is all a matter of the motivation of the heart. If it is to find favor, seek to get "in" closer (by our effort) or for others recognition, I would think He would prefer we call Him what is true, honest, and truly honoring Him, not any man made exaltation. But if it is because we "see" who He is as Israel's Messiah who gave His life for us all, and come with truly repentant hearts and humbly with sincere gratitude desire to know Him for who He is and not merely who we have been taught that He is, then He is pleased when we call Him Yeshua.
It isn't about the name, but rather the relationship we have with "haShem" the Name, that is for the Jewish people too holy to speak or write.
Let us approach His throne of grace boldly, asking Him to reveal the true condition of our heart, knowing He has already purchased our forgiveness and invite His cleansing work to purify us until we become His holy Bride.