… ¹³ for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Calling on God reflects the ideal heart and mindset of one who understands his place with his Creator. It is the most human, creaturely thing a person can do. We are derivative, not independent. We are made like God and are reflections of Him, not some neutral, sovereign existence in and of ourselves. Humans were not created to function on their own, as deists would have us believe—that there is a Creator God who started everything in the beginning and then left it all to operate on its own, according to pre-set mechanisms and rules. No, God engages actively with His creation: “… in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). The NKJV translates it this way: “… in Him all things consist.” To the Athenian philosophers, Paul enjoined, “… in Him we live and move and have our being …” (Acts 17:28 NIV).

In light of this, calling on the Lord is the preeminent thing a human can do, since we are created in God’s image. The independent person will have none of this, as it was with Adam and Eve. But for one who truly knows his place in the universe and before his Creator, there is nothing more natural, more appropriate, more suitable than to call on the Lord (or as Paul puts it, to “call on the name of the Lord”). In fact, the phrase became another euphemistic phrase for believers. The early church movement was referred to as “the way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:22). Believers were called “disciples” (Acts 6:1, 9:1, etc.). Three times in Scripture the term “Christians” is used of true believers. But the early church was also known as those who call on the name of the Lord (Acts 9:21).

Is it any wonder they would be known that way? From the earliest stories of the Christian movement, spiritual examples abounded of disciples like Stephen, who, while being executed as a martyr, “called on the Lord” (Acts 7:59). Ananias, in his prayer of resistance to God’s instruction to commission Saul (a.k.a Paul) for ministry, refers to believers as “all who call on Your name” (Acts 9:14). Paul recounts with clarity that experience and how it looked when it happened, with Ananias telling him, “Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16). Calling on the name of the Lord was a supreme act of submission and obedience to God. In being baptized, Paul was humbly taking his position before God, showing complete dependence on Him. It was Paul’s ultimate appeal to God—in fact, he uses the same word “call upon” to say, “I appeal to [lit. call on] Caesar” (Acts 25:11-12).

At the very core, salvation is the beginning of a life characterized by calling on the Lord in submission and acknowledgement of His sovereignty.

Lord, my desire is to continually call upon You every day of my life.