Daily Word of Grace # 119 (August 28, 2020)
People appreciate it when you not only remember their name but also call them by their name. Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) famously put it this way, “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” God knows your name, God remembers your name, and God calls you by your name. We see this in both the Old and New Testament. The great prophet Isaiah wrote, “I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus called people by their name (Luke 10:41; Luke 19:5; John 1:42; etc.). When identifying himself as the Good Shepherd Jesus proclaimed, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3). This is key aspect in the climactic miracle of the Gospel According to John: Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the grave. Jesus “cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” and when Jesus did so, Lazarus emerged from the tomb (John 11:43-44). Earlier Jesus had proclaimed, “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). The same God who has always known your name, remembered your name, and called you by your name, will once again call you by your name…and lead you out of the tomb.
Love and Prayers,
Dave