Calling Out a Name

Isn't it funny that you can always hear your name when it's mentioned in a crowd? There might be dozens of voices in the room, and you're not even really listening to them, but all the sudden your head pops up, looking around, and you ask, "Did someone just say my name?"

I'm sure someone who knows more about the brain who could explain this better but, though we don't consciously understand everything we hear at all times, subconsciously we do. Our brain is processing many things at once, and it can easily hear and understand many people talking that we don't even think we're paying attention to. (Except for me. I cannot multi-task in any way.)

So your brain is filtering out 99.9% of what others are saying because it doesn't apply to you. But then your brain recognizes your name, and in a fraction of a second it sends it to your consciousness and you realize what you heard. You know you've experienced this.

Then, a few weeks ago, my kids were playing in the basement. My 6-year-old son was getting a "surprise" ready for his 4-year-old sister, and she was beside herself with excitement. (She loves surprises. She never wants to know where she's going or what she's doing because she always wants to be surprised.) I had no idea what was going on; I just saw that the basement door was opened and cold air was sneaking upstairs. I closed the door.

My daughter came, panicked, around the corner. "Mom!" she cried desperately, "please don't close the door! He's going to call my name!"

I left the door open :)

And I bet you know where this is going: have you heard your name called by Jesus? Probably not audibly, though it was just as certain as though you had heard Him with your ears. Like standing in a crowd of people, your subconscious picked up on something that your consciousness couldn't really pinpoint. You wondered, "Was that really God? Calling my name? SERIOUSLY?!?!" 

Jesus didn't come to make one big giant call for all mankind. It's not like He stood on the mountaintop and gave a "Hear ye, hear ye!" type invitation. 

HE. CALLED. YOU. By name: "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out," (Luke 10:3).

So He called you. You know that. 

But did you follow Him out?

You see, he's not a pushy shepherd. He's not going to put a collar around your neck and pull you out. He's not going to shove you out. 

But He will lead you if you will follow.

So did you follow Him out? Out of the flock of normalcy and contentment to be like everyone else? Out of the habits of sin that you watched in your parents? Out of the group of friends who kept you in bondage to who they wanted you to be? Out of the life that everybody else does but that, somehow, you feel like is not the life for you?

You are called to be a weirdo. A sheep out of the flock. Not on your own, mind you, but walking with your Shepherd where He leads you. 

So follow Him out. Out of sin, out of shame, out of whatever it is that keeps you from living the abundant, joyful, peace-filled, Holy-Spirit focused life. He's leading you out. Follow Him.

And then it's your turn to call on His name: 

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved," (Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13). 
"Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name," (Acts 22:16).

He's called your name. Follow. And call on His.

Don't know how? Email me at myleslienotebook@gmail.com and I'll help you!




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