Casandra Martin

My son was hunched over the table filling out forms. Over and over, it asked for his ID number, Social Security number, driver’s license number, and registration number. He breathed in a sigh of frustration and said, “I’m only a number. No name. Just a number in the system.”

We live in a digitalized, codified world. Our identity is defined by numbers, dashes, and electronic impulses. It is easy to feel like we are lost in the maze of impersonal IDs, one more number stretching out in an endless line. We are one more face in the crowd, one more employee, one more customer, one more student, one more patient, one more in the next-in-line countdown, each blurring into the next until we feel invisible.

Next time you feel unseen, unappreciated, unnoticed, or ignored wrap the words of Jesus around your heart. He has a numbering system too. But His numbering doesn’t impersonalize us or count us as just one in a crowd. It reveals how well we are known. Jesus draws us close to His heart and reminds us, “But even the hairs on your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

My Jesus Resolution today is to remember that I am numbered. Jesus counts the hairs on my head. He wants me to understand how intimately I am known, how much I am cherished, and how closely involved He is in my life. He sees me. He loves me. He knows me. He remembers my name. He watches my face. He listens to my voice. He bottles my tears. He longs for me to know that His love for me is personal, and that He is paying attention to my heartbeats, my breaths, and the number of my hairs.