One is quickly struck by the simplicity of the twelve disciples. They were ordinary people with common names. Nothing stood out about them. No one had marked these men as potential leaders of an international movement. Except God.
God knew these men’s names. God ensured that each of their names were recorded in Scripture where they would be remembered ever after. These ordinary people could never have imagined that a simple decision to follow Jesus would have such enormous consequences. They could not have known that, by leaving their businesses and ordinary lives, they would be making a name for themselves in the kingdom of God.
Today we know the names of the twelve apostles because they obeyed Jesus. Had any of these men decided the cost was too great, or the demands too onerous, their name might have been as lost to us as is the name of the Rich Young Ruler.
Jesus knew the name of each of these men. They had not been lost in the myriads of people populating the earth. God had a purpose for each one. When God was finished with each of these people, not only God, but human history, would be familiar with them.
God knows your name. He created you. He has a purpose for you. Fulfill your destiny.