Taking His Name Upon Us

When I was preparing to marry my husband Steve, I notified my place of employment that I would be changing my last name and would need a new login, which included a handle/id that people would use to send me instant messages at work. Now, the IT dept at this place had a knack for abbreviating long names...and I suddenly thought, oh no, what if they change my screen name to "Christj" (since I was previously "Hatchj" and Christensenj would have been too many letters.)

Suddenly, my whole instant-messaging life flashed before my eyes! If I were to become "Christj" wouldn't it be strange for someone on the receiving end of one of my messages...especially, if I were to complain or even worse ridicule something at work?! My harmless outlet for sarcastic venting at work would be ruined!

They did end up changing my screen name to "Christensenj", but that little episode really got me thinking...Am I doing all I can to live up to the name that I have taken...the name of Christ, himself? Becoming a "Christensen" has changed my perspective on that, because, I actually have Christ in my last name now...but as a "Christian" and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I covenanted at baptism to take the name of Christ upon me. (I also covenanted to keep His commandments, serve others, and testify of Christ.) I was baptized at the age of eight, so I have been able to put that into practice from a young age. It is easy to forget, though, in our day-to-day happenings that we have covenanted to act as Christ would act...so that when we see Him again, we will know Him, because we will be like Him. Luckily, we get more than one chance to become more like Him in this life.

To read more about baptism in the LDS church, please click on the separate links listed below. Also, if you have any questions for me about baptism, please let me know.

Baptism (Source: Bible Dictionary)

Baptism: A Continuing Covenant (Source: Priesthood Manual)

The First Article of Faith




Pictured above: Jocelyn being baptized by her Dad, October 20, 1985, Lorain, Ohio.