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Names. Ever notice how much attention we give to them? We agonize over what to name our children. We pick out names & change them for 9 months. Then the day of their birth arrives & that form is brought to us & the weight of that decision hits hard. Yesterday I read that the Social Security Administration came out with the new list of the top boys & girls names for 2011. I read that list over as if I would be choosing a name. Thankfully, I am not!!! Such relief to find that “Sophia” is still ranked #2. How foolish to want her to have a name that is wanted. That people like to speak out. Or is it not foolish at all? This got me to thinking about something…..

There is something to hearing our name. It can be spoken out with love, with pride, with joy, in humor, with anger, in anger, with disgust, in jealousy. When our name is spoken out, it requires a response of some sort from us. The way in which our name is spoken will either build us up or tear us down. But it affects us. It truly does.

This morning as I thought on all of this, I realized that my name has been spoken out by the most important One. It is spoken out with love, with joy, with pride, with authority. And it requires a response from me…..

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1 NKJV).

OK, let’s look at a few words…

“called” —> in the Hebrew, it means enunciated. That means He spoke it out definitively, speaking each sound, each syllable. When nothing else existed, before anything was, He was speaking out into the expanse each of our names(Ephesians 1:4). Think about that.

“you by your name” —> He called each of us specifically by our names. And we thought our parents named us!! He was calling it out way before they knew they would be naming us. Gives new meaning to hearing our names while in-vitro :)))

“you are mine” —> there is that voice of authority, laying claim over the sheep that are His (John 10:1-3).

The question I am asking myself this morning is this: Is what I am called as important as to Whom is calling me? And seeing that our name being spoken out requires a response, how will I respond today when He speaks my name?