Named and Known
READ
There's something powerful about hearing your name called in a crowded room. Your head turns instinctively. You recognize the voice. You know you're being seen, known, addressed directly. In Isaiah 43, God doesn't speak to Israel as a faceless crowd or a theological concept—He calls them by name. And then He adds four words that change everything: "You are mine."
Let’s take a moment to read Isaiah 43:1-4:
But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.”
REFLECT
This is where true identity begins. Not with what you do, not with what others think of you, not even with what you think of yourself. Your deepest identity is anchored in whose you are. You belong to the God who created you, formed you, redeemed you, and knows your name.
Many of us spend years trying to construct an identity from scattered pieces—our achievements, our failures, our relationships, our roles. We become fragmented, trying to be one person at work, another at home, another at church, another online. We lose the thread of who we actually are. We're exhausted from maintaining these different versions of ourselves, and deep down, we wonder if any of them are real.
But God offers something different. He offers an identity that integrates every part of who you are into a coherent whole. When you know you are His—created, formed, called, beloved—you don't have to perform different versions of yourself for different audiences. You can be whole because you know whose you are.
This is why choosing "one word" for the year is more than a self-improvement exercise. It's an invitation to let God shape your entire identity around a central truth. When you choose a word like "peace" or "courage" or "trust," you're not just trying to modify your behavior. You're asking God to form you into the kind of person who embodies that reality. You're inviting Him to integrate your scattered self around this one orienting center.
God doesn't love you because you're peaceful or courageous or trusting. He loves you because you're His. But as you grow in that foundational identity, you become more whole—more able to reflect His character, more capable of stewarding the work He's given you, more integrated in every area of life.
The Israelites were about to walk through deep waters and blazing fire. God knew that. He didn't promise them an easy path. But He promised them something better: His presence and His claim on their lives. "You are precious and honored in my sight," He said, "and I love you."
That's your identity too. Not based on what you accomplish this year. Not dependent on whether you perfectly live out your one word. Your identity is secure because God has called you by name. You are His. And from that unshakable center, everything else in your life can find its proper place.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
How might knowing you are God's—created, redeemed, and called by name—change the way you approach the challenges ahead of you this year?
What would it look like to let your "one word" help orient your entire identity around who God is forming you to become, rather than just what you want to accomplish?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Father, thank You for calling me by name and claiming me as Your own. Help me to anchor my identity not in what I do but in whose I am. As I walk through deep waters and difficult seasons, remind me that I am precious in Your sight and deeply loved. Form me into a whole person who reflects Your character in every area of life. Amen.