“When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.” Luke 19:5 (NLT)

Jesus doesn’t just notice you. He doesn’t just pick you out in a crowd of eight billion people. He knows you. And just like he did for Zacchaeus, he calls you by name.

All his life, Zacchaeus had been ridiculed and rejected, first as a young person for his size. His small stature would have caused him to be the subject of some mean-spirited attention. But then when he got older, he’s ridiculed and rejected for his dishonesty and his corruption as a tax collector. No one would have noticed or cared what happened to Zacchaeus.

And yet, “when Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name” (NLT).

How did Jesus know Zacchaeus’ name? The same reason Jesus knows your name—because he made you. He’s God! God created you, and he knows your name.

This would have shocked everyone in the crowd, not just because Jesus called his name but also because Zacchaeus’ name means “pure one.”

Zacchaeus was anything but pure. He was corruption personified. He would have been called a lot of names over his lifetime, to his face and behind his back. But it had probably been a long time since anyone had called him by his real name, “pure one.”

Jesus called him by his real name. Why? Because Jesus was recognizing Zacchaeus’ potential rather than pointing out his past.

You may have had some tough breaks in life. You’ve had some mean things said about you. You can still remember the names you were called by the kids at school or even your parents. And you have a hard time feeling good about you.

But you have to remember this: Even though other people may have called you those names, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is not the names they called you but the fact that Jesus knows your name. He is calling your name today, drawing you to him and saying, “I see in you what I made you to be—and I’ve never given up on that.”