... On Hearing Your Name.

Hearing Your Name
There you stand.

Shoulder to shoulder in a line against the brick wall as they pace in front of you, eyeing you up and down to try and appraise your worth before all the other sitting ducks to your right and left.  One word, just your name called, and it would all be over.  You would know your place.  You would know your worth.  Better not make eye contact with anyone.  Not with your selectors lest they may sense your insecurity and see how desperate you are inside to be chosen.  Not with your fellow prisoners as compassion may cost you your place in this microcosm of society.  You don't need to be called first, just don't be called last.  Everything hinged in one word, one name: yours.  And with eyes closed and squinted you listen...

This world, this Thunderdome, called... the sixth grade recess football draft.

Many a young man's worth was dictated by two 'captains,' two young men elected by their peers based on a social algorithm consisting mainly of how tall you were and how many pencil-thin hairs could be found gracing your upper lip.  Signs of burgeoning manhood equals power and authority on the recess football field.  These two would determine each boys worth.

Ok, maybe it wasn't that intense.  Maybe I'm being a little over dramatic.  But to a young sixth grade boy, few things meant more than finding acceptance within the pack.  And for us, that meant hearing your name called early in the daily draft of the pint-sized pigskin players.

Not Just Recess
Perhaps it wasn't outside at recess for you.  Maybe it was the lunch table.  Maybe it was in the bandhall or choir room or homeroom.  Maybe it was in your own living room, or maybe somewhere else entirely.  But somewhere in your world there was, and still is, a place you stood hoping that someone would notice you there and call out your name.

Today it could be the conference room or the Evite list, in the college acceptance letter, around the dinner table or in the number of your twitter followers. It could be from a group of people, or maybe just that one person you hope will let you know that you are noticed, you matter, that you exist and that it means something to someone.

"Just call out my name."

Just like being lined up against that brick wall, there are times in life when all you want is to hear your name called.

Just one word.  And, we hope, that would make everything a shade better.

It's in all of us in some way or the other.  We want to belong.

The truth is: It matters to us whether or not we matter to anyone else.

The Spectrum of Influence
So we find ourselves at some point along the cosmic spectrum of influence, a range of behaviors that are all rooted in our deep-seeded desire to mean something to someone.

The spectrum ranges from the paralysis of depression to the exhaustion of performance.  It goes from the depths of hopelessness in which somehow we are convinced that we either don't have anything to offer or that the one(s) we hope to impress are disinterested -  all the way to the obsessive nature many of us have to work with all our white-knuckled strength to prove our worth to someone, anyone.  On one end we can sink deep in the darkness of irrelevance, and on the other we can be excessively driven by the insecurity of never knowing where we stand so we push harder and harder to matter to people...

Matter to them...

Matter to him... or her.

All so that someone will call out one word.  Our name.

And the desperate need to hear that word can even drive us to do evil things just to hear it.  Just to feel what it's like to actually matter in some way.  That's how deep and twisted and rooted the need to matter is within us all.

And it can and will absolutely consume us.  It has the power to cause us to spiral out of control in a tailspin of depression, confusion, and pain.  Or it can cause us to sell our very lives to causes and passions we think will ultimately deliver us the satisfaction that we so desperately crave.

Who for You?
Can you remember a time in the past that you wanted so badly to hear your name called?

What are those times in your life right now?  Who or what are the ones that your life is position to impress?  Who is it that deep down you believe you need to be acknowledged by?

Friends?  Parents?  A relationship or spouse?  The Facebook or Twitter world?  A professor or employer?

Who is it that you want to call your name?
To think about you?
To tell you that you matter?
To prove to you your life counts?

The Only Voice that Matters
That is one of the inescapable beauties of the mystery of the cross of Jesus.

Not that the cross was primarily about us.
It was, and is, about Jesus bringing glory and honor to His Father.
But we are there in the story.
We are there because we matter.
We are there because we are loved.

Think on this statement:
The cross happened.

Think about that.
Jesus, God's Son, took the weight of the sin of the world on his body, soul and spirit.
It happened.
It happened because there was no other way (Matt. 26:39).

No other way for what?

God to have more glory?
Nope.
His glory is displayed, but never heightened or lessoned. (Ps. 96:3, Isaiah 40:5)
Regardless of the cross, God is God and worthy of all glory.

God to be good?
Nope.
His goodness, like his glory, never fluctuates.  (Ps. 25:7, Is. 63:7, Ps. 96:13)
Regardless of the event of the cross God would be forever and always good.
The same is true for the attributes of being holy, loving, faithful, pure, right, etc. (1 John 4:8)

Nope.  None of those.

No Other Way
Then no other way for what?

For you to be able to enjoy the greatest joy possible - belonging to God.
Being in the presence of pure goodness with no hindrance.
Seeing God for who he is and being wrapped up and lost in Him.
Hearing him call your name and responding with a resounding, "Here I am!" (Gen. 22:1, Ex. 3:4, 1 Sam. 3:4, Is. 6:8)  

Without the cross you wouldn't want Him. (Rom. 3:10-12)
The curse of sin and all it's effects, including a heart devoid of affection for your Father and Creator, was destroyed by the power of Jesus' substitution and full sacrificial payment in your place. (2 Cor. 5:21)
Justice and mercy intertwined and on display at the cross.

Now, not only is your name called by the only One who truly matters, but in Jesus and because of the cross you have a heart that wants to hear it. (2 Tim. 1:8-10)

Much more than a hairy sixth-grader, a parent or lover, but the very one who called you into existence is calling you into worth!

Truly Hearing Your Name for the First Time
You are worth it.
And the cross shows you just how much you are worth to God.
Worth leaving Heaven.
Worth wrapping His deity in humanity.
Worth the frailty of a body.
Worth rejection and humiliation.
Worth false accusations and unjust condemnation from people.
Worth torture at the hands of his people.
Worth being forsaken by His Father.
Worth death.
Worth taking Hell upon Himself.

Worth the greatest love the world has ever seen.
Worth taking on your sin and giving you His perfection.
Worth taking on your rejection and giving you His acceptance.

You are worth it, not because of what you are or what you've done, but simply because you are valuable to God - valuable enough for a rescue mission to bring you home.

The Name Above All Names (Phil.2:9, Eph. 1:21-22) is calling out your name through the cross.

And wants to give you a new life through His resurrection.

Jesus sees your poor little weak and defenseless self,  and with all your posturing and puffing yourself up aside He calls your name.
Hear it.
Hear him say it.
More sweet than a football game or afterwork party.
More meaningful than an engagement or wedding vow - the powerfully tender voice of God calling you and saying...

... you're accepted.  In Jesus you are accepted.

Let us quit lining up against the brick wall.

Let us run to the cross.