By Gina Caswell Kelly
“The descendants of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Karmi, Hur and Shobal. Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.” I Chronicles 4:1-2
I know what you are thinking. Where on earth is she going with this?? There are nearly 2,000 people named in the Bible. Each of these separate individuals that were mentioned in God’s Word. And many of those names, in fact, the vast majority of those names appear in listings such as this one. If you are reading your Bible through and you come to these types of listings, what is your first thought? I am guessing you are thinking you could just skip over that part without any problem. And you could.
But the truth is that God calls each of us by name. Each and every one of us, He calls by name. Names matter to God. How do we know this? Didn’t He change Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah? Didn’t He change Jacob to Israel? Didn’t Jesus come along and change Simon to Peter? Our names matter to Him. And they should matter to us.
I grew up with my Daddy reminding me all the time that I carried his name and I needed to carry it well. Sometimes you might hear a last name, and you immediately have an opinion about this family. “Oh well, she is a ______, so you know how she is going to be already.” Or “He is a son of _____, so you know he is going to be trouble.” Our names matter. My granddad was telling me once about a man he was voting for. He said, “I have never met this man, but I knew his dad and I know what kind of man he was, so I will vote for his son.” Again, our names matter.
As a Christian, we don’t just wear our personal family given name. We also wear the Name of Christ, our Savior. Just like we want to honor our family name, we need to always wear the Name of Christ with honor. We should show Him in all we do and wherever we go. As Christians, we are always a walking witness. My question for you is this, are you a good witness or a bad one?
God is calling your name each day. Answer His call and serve Him with honor. Serve Him excitedly. Serve Him with all you have.
“Now this is what the Lord says— the One who created you,…“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1
Oh how precious are those words from our Lord! He is calling you today. Are you listening when He calls your name? It will make a difference!
