He Calls His Own Sheep by Name

Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 3:30).

Daniel had a little playmate named Emily. On a summer’s day, all the children would be out playing and around a certain time of the night Emily’s mother would step out on the porch of her house and yell, “Emily” and then let out a long whistle. Just a little bit later I’d see Emily run down the street toward home. She knew her mother’s call and she responded.

Now image one evening Emily’s mother stepped out of the house, called for Emily and let loose a long whistle. Hearing the call, I slipped on my shoes, ran out of the house and showed up right in front of Emily’s mother. She’d look at me and say, “Well Richard, it’s nice to see you tonight. What can I do for you?“

She’d think I’d totally lost my marbles if I told her I’d heard her call and came running fast as I could. See, her call wasn’t for me. It was for her daughter, for Emily. She called her own.

Throughout the Bible is a wonderful theme of God calling His people. Whether it was Abram in the big city of Ur or Moses at a burning bush in the desert, a little boy named Samuel, or an old fisherman named Peter, God always calls His own by name. Jesus put it like this: He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:4). While everyone can hear the voice of the Shepherd in the proclamation of the gospel, only His own sheep respond, and they respond to Him straight away.

Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion (Hebrews 3:15).

My Favorite Sister

L to R: sister Serina, mother Nanci, wife Kimberly, sister Kori, and sister Bethany, 2014.

I have three sisters: Serina, Kori, and Bethany, in that order. Do you know which is my favorite? Serina is my favorite. Kori is my favorite. Bethany is my favorite. I have three “favorite” sisters.

We were at a family gathering recently and somebody was harassing us by taking pictures. I jumped over to Serina and said, “Take my picture with my favorite sister.”  Then I did the same with Kori and Bethany.

I know that this isn’t always the way it works in families. I’ve seen plenty of the favorite-child thing. For my generation, will you ever forget hearing Jan Brady saying, “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. All I ever hear is Marsha!” There’s even a story in the Bible about one son who most more favored than the others, and how the other brothers got even (Genesis 37).

It’s easy to have the same attitude toward God and assume that He plays favorites too.  This guy is “nicer” than I am, so God must like him more than He likes me. That lady is more spiritual than I am, so she must be better than I am. God’s gifted her as a better musician, so you should stop playing the piano. He can memorize all that Bible stuff, why should I try?

God doesn’t play favorites with us based upon how nice we are, how spiritual we are, how talented we may be, or how good at something we seem to be. Just consider the Jewish people.

Why in the world did God chose them? Not because they’re any better than you or me.  Deuteronomy 7:7-8a gives God’s reason for selecting Israel over all the other nations of the world … and why you’re His favorite too! The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you …

You don’t have to do anything to be God’s favorite. He’s not going to like you better than anyone else He’s chosen. He simply loves you. Just be yourself and enjoy being God’s favorite today.