Casandra Martin

Look for your name. You can find it on a soft drink bottle these days. The clever marketing campaign by one of the country’s largest soda manufacturers has people digging through the shelves, taking selfies, and buying soft drinks for their friends. The product in the bottle isn’t new. The novelty comes from finding the bottle that has your name on it.

Your name is important. It does more for you than differentiate you from the next person. Your name speaks to your identity. When someone knows your name, they know something about you. Your name comes to represent your heart, your character, and your focus. When you mention the name of a person, more comes to mind than just outward identification material. Say someone’s name and you will recall something about their attitude, actions, and the substance of their soul.

Finding your name on a bottle is fun, but did you know that your name has a holy residence? Isaiah 49:16a says, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Look at your Savior’s nail-scarred hands and you will find your name. He did it for you. He loves you so much that He inscribed your name on His hands. Jesus etched your name on His hands so that you could wear His name and live in His presence. This isn’t a summer marketing ploy. This is God’s deep desire and grace forged together so that you will know that you are known and loved.

My Jesus Resolution today is to look for my name. Every day God plants blessings and opportunities in my path just for me. They have my name on them. God doesn’t work generically. He knows my name and the number of hairs on my head. He also knows how to speak to the deep needs of my heart. I have to learn to look for how His hand touches my name. God is watching me with a father’s eyes. He loves me with a father’s heart. He reaches out to me with hands that are engraved with my name just so I can be reassured that I am never forgotten and never far away from the arms of my God.