Daily
Devotional

When I moved to another part of the country, I was nervous that I would never remember people’s names in my new home church. To help myself, I repeated names right after I heard them, and often made a disclaimer that I would probably forget it a few minutes later. With time and patience on everyone’s part, I finally matched the right name to the right person.

In Luke 19:3, we read about a man who was of short stature whose name was Zacchaeus. In Matthew 10:17, we read about the rich young ruler. Both men were wealthy, and both came looking for Jesus of their own accord. The young ruler ran to Jesus and knelt down before Him, while Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. It was not by accident that Jesus was passing by in both situations; He knew these men needed Him. We do not know the name of the rich young ruler, only that he went away sorrowful, unwilling to give his wealth to the poor. But we do know the name of the man who was of short stature, and that he was joyful. Why? Because he was willing to obey Jesus. After Jesus changed his heart, Zacchaeus returned four times more than what he had stolen, and gave half of his goods to the poor.

More important than having his name recorded in the Bible, that day Zacchaeus reserved a place for his name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is vitally important that our names are written there! We read in Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Our focus verse tells us that Jesus knows our names if we are saved, but to those whose names are not in the Book of Life, on the judgment day He will say, “I never knew you: depart from me” (Matthew 7:23).  

We might have trouble remembering names, but Jesus does not. When we see Him at the judgment bar, He will judge us by what is recorded in His books, and He will know if we joyfully served Him and gave Him first place in our lives. He will remember His own and will say to them, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:23). Although we can have our names in a lot of places throughout our lifetimes, having them in God’s Book is what will count.