What happens when you hear your name?
You have accomplished the goal or the task. You have experienced a level of success. It seems the years of hard work has paid off. Something powerful happens inside of us when people begin to notice us. So we find ourselves hearing our name more in conversation.
Honestly, part of us really enjoys the recognition. People not only know us, but they know our accomplishments.
Here’s the problem with hearing our name — Pride. The insidiousness of pride begins to seep into our souls. Once you have the attention, it motivates you to get more. Soon, it becomes difficult to separate our identity from our success. Pride creates an addiction to hearing our name and perpetually motivates us to do more to hear it.
I was recently convicted from listening to a podcast interview by Carey Nieuwhof and Francis Chan. I would encourage you to listen to it.
Francis shared about his rise of success as a megachurch pastor. At one point during the interview, he said, “I was hearing my name mentioned more than the Holy Spirit.” A line like that stops us in our tracks. In our own lives, would we even notice that?
The Gospel frees us from pride. It frees us from the need and sometimes the addiction to hear our name. Jesus and His grace calls us to a better way to live. Our significance and worth results from Him who created us, died on a cross for us, and rose from the dead to give us life.
When the Gospel transforms our hearts, we discover that Jesus knows our name. And that becomes enough…
We can serve faithfully and quietly knowing He sees it.
We become free to let Him define our value and not success or failure.
We see others through His love and not as people who need to affirm us.
We find our identity in His accomplishments and not our own.
Today, take inventory in your heart the places where you want to hear your name. Confess to Jesus, your pride. Remind yourself of the Gospel — the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection in your life.
Photo by Gift Habeshaw