BY NAME

noun: the distinctive designation of a person; the words by which a person is regularly known

…They’d be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by personal selection. God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name… Romans 9:27-28

Oh how easy it is to get distracted by the numbers.

We identify with them much more than we probably should. Our ages, our bank accounts, our addresses, our social media followers, our heights and weights, and our perceived or actual “ranks” in whatever parts of this competitive world we participate in. We operate in a mathematical mindset so much of the time.

And unfortunately, in Math class, one of the earliest things we learn is that there are signs for “greater than” and “less than,” and we accidentally start to evaluate not just things but people this way. Abstract numbers and objects aren’t negatively affected by this ranking and ordering, but the tender hearts that God created are.

For most of my years, focusing on numbers left me feeling undeserving and not enough. I constantly compared myself with others and attributed quite a bit of value to things that don’t really matter to God. I have done this to myself relentlessly, and sadly, I have done it to others.

So maybe as I’m learning to step away from the grid of more and less and higher and lower, you can join me for just a minute and we can ask God to show us his way.

Oh wait. He already has.

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage. Mark 10:44-45

Jesus showed love by washing feet. By spending time. By calling people by their names and showing them that he really knew them. By sacrificing himself.

“Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.”

“Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing.”

“And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock.”

He knows our names and everything about us. And he values us for reasons we don’t understand.

Earthly math would reason that if Jesus had 100 of us to take care of, and one wandered away, he probably wouldn’t need to be too concerned about losing just that one. After all, he would still have 99 of us, right?

But that’s not how Jesus loves. And you can be 100% sure that if you are ever the one that gets lost, he will leave the ninety-nine and come after you.

With God’s kind of math, we are known for what truly matters, and that is that we belong to him.

Invite Him In

Jesus, servant of all, Savior of all, gave his life for yours. He knows all about you, and everything that happens to you matters immensely to him. Turn your eyes to him, and let him meet you where you need him the most. He knows you by your name and by your heart.