According to history, Alexander the Great was one of the finest generals of all time. We are told that following a successful military campaign, Alexander would reward the soldiers who performed bravely and he would punish those who had demonstrated cowardice.

On one occasion, while Alexander was celebrating a victory with his generals, his guards dragged a young soldier before him. The man was charged with deserting his post, and was now to receive Alexander’s sentence.

The automatic penalty for such an offense was usually death. For some reason known only to him, this time, Alexander hesitated. He looked down on the soldier, who was trembling and prostrate before him. Alexander asked him a simple question. ”Soldier, what is your name?” ”Alexander” the young man whispered weakly. ”What is your name?” ALEXANDER asked again, his voice rising in anger. ”Alexander” the soldier repeated, ashamedly. In a flash, the great ruler was upon the man; he grabbed him by the front of his tunic and yanked him face to face. ”That’s my name,” Alexander roared. Then in a suddenly soft, but harsh tone, he continued. ”Soldier, you shall live, but from this day on, you either must change your conduct, or you must change your name.”

Alexander’s point, was that if the soldier was to share his name he must behave in a way that was consistent with the ruler’s reputation and character.

We call ourselves Christadelphians, and we all know that this means brethren of Christ or Christ’s brother. What would we think if Christ were to suddenly appear and look us right in the eye and say to us, ”either you must change your conduct or change your name.” Would we rather change the way we behave or change our name? In a sense we are not really his brother or sister unless we do behave as he would have us behave.

We remember when Christ’s immediate family was standing outside desiring to speak to him. When he was told this, he turned to his disciples and said, ”Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?” Stretching his hand toward his disciples he said, ”Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

We see that Jesus, like Alexander, is really saying, ”keep my commandments, do the will of my Father or change your name, for you are not my brother and sister if you don’t.”

We often speak of a person describing them as having a ”good name” or a ”bad name.” We are not talking about the .name on their birth certificate but rather the way they behave.

What kind of a name do we have? Are we living up to our name as Christ’s brother? There were those living in Sardis who had a name that they lived but Jesus said that they were dead.

Let us decide to live up to our name as Christ’s brethren so that when He comes He will give us ”a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”