When God Calls You by Name

As much as a name plays for identity, it also plays a role in how you respond and react. Unless there is something wrong with you or you’ve built up serious hardcore skills, when you hear your name, you respond to it instinctively. It is said (forgive the lack of source situation at this junction of time) that the word a person hears more than any other word in their life is their name. So, if you try to go undercover with an alias and someone spots you and calls you out by name, it will be hard for the average person to stay in character.

The beauty about names, given, earned, or chosen, is that it is the anchor point to the fundamental core of your being. And many times, we have allowed ourselves to share negative associations with names. Just look at online bullying and cyber name shaming. You can’t use certain words without creating a lot of emotionally charged reactions. Many people identify so closely with that negative association that they lose hope of reaching their potentials. In the sermon, I sited a few names of people who had a solid identity and it had to be changed and modified so that they could reach their fullest potential. I’ll use one for now here.

Legends by Name

Moses was a well trained thought leader for his time. He was set to have success in the royal house of the Pharaoh. However, in order for him to reach his greatest goals, ones that were well above any he had dreamed of, God had to call him by name at the burning bush in the desert to get his mind to change. He couldn’t continue to be the follower of structure. He had to become the leader of change to push and drive change for a nation to be.

Of course, Moses resisted initially. Who wouldn’t. The very thought of many changing careers is daunting to say the least. Parents don’t want to think of changing their identity that provides for their dependents. It must not be a comforting situation to know you’ll be leaving a great job with benefits and risk the security of your family to pursue something that sounds out right ludicrous. And yet, that is often how it is when God calls someone by their name to do something special.

Parents

As parents, we often have lavish goals and plans for our lives. That moment when God calls you to be a parent, things change. Aspirations often leads to seeking security, safety, and comfort to provide for the new mouth you have to feed. Massive disruptive changes gets put on hold. It is not humanly wise to disrupt the welfare of a child. I would never advocate that either. However, the point I want to make, there are changes that comes with being called to the mission of raising another human being.

In my example, speaking has had to slow down. Other activities of interest had to slow down. The primary role now is that I must care for my children. I got the call. I heard it. I listened. I responded affirmatively. I can’t picture an alternate reality in which I’m not present for my family. It is my responsibility.

Can You Hear the Call

While most are not able to hear the call that God gives them, it doesn’t mean He is not calling you. He calls everyone. The question is, are you listening?

As a father, the one thing I have learned more than any other thing, listening is priceless. You can’t make the best decisions for those who depend on you if you’re not listening. The only way to get the best knowledge is to listen, gather all the information you can, then, after reflection, make a decision that’s followed by action.

Listening you say?

Yes, listening. Especially in the wee hours of the morning when you’re most sleepy and the child is trying to whimper it’s discomfort because you’re holding him/her wrong while feeding. It’s the same thing with God. If we’re not listening to the Call, we’re going to miss it. There are enough distractions and noises in the day to keep you way too busy that it becomes imperative to create some quiet spaces to listen to the will of God.

Caveats

For the readers who do not profess any belief in God, that’s OK. It’s all good. You too can benefit from some quiet in your life. Most great ideas that come about happen in the moments of stillness in life. Sure, it can be a few seconds or long meditative sessions, but it usually is when there is space, one hears, one knows.

Create that space in your life where you can think for yourself. Think things through. This site will support the view I share in that the early morning hours are the best times to have that quiet thinking space. Before the inbox screams at you, before the traffic snarls and growls jarring you into the work day, before the children demand your attention, create that space where you can look inwardly and figure what you’re going to be about for the day. That’s usually when the call is most clearly heard.