Our name will last forever in the heart of Jesus and in the Book of Life.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments,
and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” 
Revelation 3:5 English Standard Version

No, this is not the three hundredth Praying With The Eyes devotional blog. I passed that number back in 2013. This bison is number 0300.

Cimarron, New Mexico

I thought about Photoshopping out the tag on the bison’s ear, but the more I thought about it the more I realize that the number is part of this buffalo’s story. He or she doesn’t have a name, it has a number. One day buffalo number 0300 will head to the slaughter-house and become food on someone’s table. That’s its destiny.

Maybe we feel that this is also our destiny. We feel that we’re being led to the slaughter-house, that we’ll end up forgotten. We might feel that all we are in the world is a Social Security number, a number that will disappear when we die. We might feel that we’re here merely to help someone else, a person who only knows us as a “number.”

We’re number 0300 at college.

We’re number 0300 at work.

We’re number 0300 at church.

Jesus is the lamb that was led to slaughter for us (Isaiah 53:7). He was rejected by people that we might not be reject by God. Jesus, through the Apostle John, goes so far to declare that our names are written in the Book of Life, that your name is written in the book of life. It is this Jesus who confesses our names before the Father.

We are not a number to Jesus. We are people for whom he died. We are people for whom he lives. Jesus will not forget our names. He will not forget your name.

Jesus used these words in John’s revelation to encourage us to remain faithful to him, the lamb led to slaughter. May we see beyond the number that the world gives us and hold on to the reality that Jesus knows us by name.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner