{"id":248,"date":"2013-12-13T23:54:33","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T23:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?p=248"},"modified":"2013-12-13T23:57:20","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T23:57:20","slug":"youre-a-name-not-a-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2013\/12\/youre-a-name-not-a-number.html","title":{"rendered":"You’re a Name, not a Number"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Human beings are complex, unique, and so much more than a series of numbers. Child of Eden, original oil painting by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have just spent the last 45 minutes on hold waiting to talk to a representative from a government agency. At the start of the call, I was asked to enter my personalized identification number, which, in accordance with the U.S. national identification system (it exists, people, whether we acknowledge it or not) gives the right, or wrong, people pretty much everything they need to know about me.<\/p>\n

Only it doesn’t. Because, while a social security number grants all sorts of the wrong people access to my financial, medical, geographical, educational, business, personal, and shopping records, it doesn’t reach down into my soul — although this is not for lack of the official, and wrong, people trying their hardest to do so.<\/p>\n

Too many people on this planet are encapsulated and identified by a number, and while it may seem wonderfully efficient to have disparate information so conveniently consolidated, no human being, especially one who does not care about us, treasure us, or love us, should know so much about another human being.<\/p>\n

God Alone Knows Our Secrets<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Only God should know everything about us, because only God cares enough about us to keep that information secure and safe.<\/p>\n

But we live in a country, and a world, run by a limited number of humans who feel it is their right to direct and influence the lives of many others, and that we are so accustomed to being called by number, as opposed to name, shows how firmly we have accepted that there is nothing wrong with this. Nameless faces, in nameless places, send us letters and e-mails instructing us to read this, sign that, fill out this form, and supply them with yet more information. A dental office I recently visited, citing being “in accordance with American Dental Association recommendations,” demanded social security and driver’s license numbers of their patients. What, precisely, does this have to do with teeth?<\/p>\n

God Knows, and Loves, Your <\/strong><\/em>Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

If, lately, you have felt valueless in the world in which you live, little more than a number with a whole lot of personal records attached to it, then you are not weird, you are aware. And being aware, and awake, is something Christ consistently calls us to be — because the world is not our home, because evil people temporarily hold power, because Christ will come back when we are not expecting Him — and He wants to find His people ready.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
You may think you are small, but you are not worthless. You, and your name, means something. Lilac Festival, original oil painting by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His people — you, me, others — have names that He knows, souls that He searches, hearts that He loves, and lives He protects, watches over, heals, and holds. You are not, and never will be, a number to God, and if you have ever wondered just how different the Kingdom of God is from the Establishments of Man, this distinction is paramount.<\/p>\n

“I am the good shepherd,”<\/em>\u00a0Jesus tells us in John 10:14.\u00a0“I know my sheep and my sheep know me . . . and I lay down my life for the sheep.”<\/em><\/p>\n

When you are a child of God, it is your Name that is written in the Book of Life, not a number. While you mean less than nothing to too many of the wrong people, you mean more than everything to the All Loving, All Knowledgeable, All Powerful God.<\/p>\n

Your life — which includes so much more than your medical, shopping, and financial records — is safe in His hands. Those are the only hands where they\u00a0are<\/b><\/em>\u00a0<\/b>safe.<\/p>\n

Seek Him. Love Him. Trust Him.<\/p>\n

Thank you for joining me at Commonsense Christianity. I post three times weekly and invite you to subscribe (top right on the menu bar). I also humbly request that you pass me on to people interested in living their Christian faith uncowed into submission by the rulers, authorities, celebrities and leaders of the contemporary Christian Establishment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Posts similar to this one are<\/p>\n

Put Your Money Where Your Beliefs Are<\/a><\/p>\n

Downton Abbey, Mind Control, and Your Christian Life<\/a><\/p>\n

Is Your Job Meaningless?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Privacy of Our Minds<\/a> (at my sister blog, This Woman Writes)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have just spent the last 45 minutes on hold waiting to talk to a representative from a government agency. 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