Introducing Zeal Josiah McNeilly

[This post by Alex]

Born at 2:06 p.m. on Saturday, May 24
7 lbs. 13 oz. (our smallest baby yet!)

Zeal—what is it? How shall I describe it? Possess it, and you will know what it is. Be consumed with love for Christ, and let the flame burn continually, not flaming up at public meetings and dying out in the routine work of every day. We need indomitable perseverance, dogged resolution, and a combination of sacred obstinacy, self-denial, holy gentleness, and invincible courage.

—Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students

We love name meanings.

Names always mean something in Scripture. Sometimes they are reflective of someone’s character, as in the case of Jacob, which means “supplanter,” named as such for grabbing his twin brother’s heel as they exited the womb. Other times God changes people’s names based on His setting them apart for a special purpose, as in the cases of Abraham, Sarah, the Apostle Paul, et al. Still other times names are prophetic, as in the case of Hosea’s children: Lo-ruhamah (“she has not obtained compassion”) and Lo-ammi (“not my people”). And sometimes children are named in the aftermath of some great event, even bad ones, as in the case of the priest Eli’s grandson: “And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel,’ because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband” (1 Samuel 4:21).

Even in non-Biblical history, especially the history of the Church, names have significant meanings. Sometimes church fathers get historic names because of their works (Gregory Thaumaturgus, from the Greek “Wonderworker”). Other times names are fearfully prophetic, as in the case of Friedrich Schleiermacher, one of the first liberal theologians of the 18th century, whose name literally means “veil maker.” He spent his life obscuring God’s truth and denying the plain teaching of Scripture.

We see our own children’s names as reminders to us as parents and to them as children of what God has called them to:

Jubilee Kate: Pure Joy

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

—James 1:2–3

We routinely ask Jubilee if she’s being her name: Pure Joy. As she gets older, I'm sure we will encourage her to be Joyfully Pure.

Whitaker Andrew: Man of the White Fields

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”

—Matthew 9:36–38

We pray that Whit will either be one of these workers, or that he will give himself to praying for and encouraging God’s harvesters.

Zeal Josiah: Zealous Fire of the Lord

“Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons.”

—Ezra 7:23

We want Zeal to be zealous for God’s kingdom, just as our Lord Jesus Christ was: “His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house will consume me’” (John 2:17, a reference to Psalm 69:9).

Dani has expressed fear that we’re asking for trouble by naming a son Zeal, especially considering our redhead genes. But names aren’t magic spells that we chant over our children, alternately dooming or blessing them to be what we’ve named them. We must trust God and act in faith. No doubt with Zeal we’ll have to faithfully and incessantly do the work of teaching him to discern between “a disputing zeal,” which “is more natural than a holy, obedient, practising zeal” (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor). Godly zeal will not come to him naturally, and I anticipate asking him in years to come: “Zeal, whose kingdom are you being zealous for: God’s or your own?” Only by God’s Spirit can we accomplish this work. But that’s the case with all of our children, regardless of what we name them.

Yeah, it’s a weird name. Zeal McNeilly. It’s a word, not a name. It kinda rhymes with part of McNeilly. It sounds and looks like Seal. But we’ve been proud of our names so far, and going a little (further) to the weird side is humbling for us. People fawn over the names Jubilee and Whitaker. I anticipate that fewer will fawn over Zeal. But, honestly, that factored in to me being convinced it’s what I wanted to name our son. I thought, Let’s put this “perfect name” thing to death and name our son something that requires faith and doesn’t have the convenient benefit of eliciting oohs and ahs.

Truthfully, many family and friends have told us they like the name, which makes us very happy! We hope that his name will be a reminder to many that we are to be zealous to obey the Lord our God!