I had to smile. It read: “You need to be careful if your name is David because you’ll end up as a ‘Dav’ if you lose your digital ID.”

It was a nice - if ‘quirky’ - reaction to the Prime Minister’s proposal to introduce Digital ID’s in an attempt to tackle illegal immigration and streamline access to services.

Not surprisingly, his announcement has sparked a great deal of debate in a country where ID cards have often been viewed with suspicion. As I understand it, current polling figures seem to show that we are almost evenly divided even though a parliamentary petition opposing it has attracted almost 3 million signatures. That’s significant because Parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.

In the meantime, the discussions continue. I am not as opposed as some of the people I know, partly because I’m aware that much of my personal information is already stored online and partly because I can see that a well-designed – if carefully protected - digital identity could reduce fraud, make access to welfare and healthcare smoother and deny criminal networks the ability to use forged documents.

However, I was interested to read that the government has written to chief executives across the country recommending that they should have physical copies of their plans as a precaution given the National Cyber-Security Centres warning that there has been an increase in nationally significant attacks this year. Experience seems to show that no system seems completely foolproof and such a database would prove very useful in the hands of an authoritarian regime.

On the other hand, it has also been suggested that Digital ID has the potential to strengthen social trust because it will give people a way of verifying who they are and thereby restore confidence in a society where trust is increasingly frayed.

The arguments are finely balanced then, but I must admit I became less enthusiastic when a friend told me that he had been chatting about hearing aids over lunch the other day and was inundated with adverts for them online the following day. He attributed this ‘remarkable coincidence’ to the fact that his smartphone was on the table while he was talking, and he thinks it picked up everything he said. At that moment I heard echoes of Orwell’s 1984 with its warnings of mass surveillance and the repressive regimentation of people and their behaviour.

Above all though the debate has reminded me of the importance of my heavenly ‘ID’. Jesus often spoke of this because He said it will prove vitally important if we want to be welcomed into His Kingdom. So how will He recognise us? The gospel writer Matthew tells us that in no uncertain terms: we must acknowledge His Kingship and give proof of that by living His way. In other words we are to feed the hungry, care for the sick and welcome the stranger.