A Permanent Address

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/08/permanent-address

Those of us who have moved homes will know what a major hassle that is. I moved from my varsity days from rooms to rooms and finally to two rented homes shared with my brother in law when I got married. Later we moved to our own home, bought at a time when new off-plan landed 24×75 link homes were still below RM200k – it was a princely sum then but if we had graduated one year earlier, slightly smaller ones (22×75) were available at the RM150k region. After that we moved to a home with a larger compound in a smaller city where we raised our two boys, and finally to our current home close by in the same city. When we look at some stuff at the store rooms, we straight away knew which era in our lives those things are from and the funny thing, we still have things from our varsity days! We still maintain our address as that of our previous home but for most correspondence, we use our latest address. For us and our children, our permanent address can be at either homes and I think for a few more decades to come.

At the physical side of things, some of us may still be looking for a permanent address. We are still saving for the down payment to our home in our name or we have bought one already but will need a bigger one when the kids come or grow up. There are many permutations depending on which stage of life we are, but we are looking for a permanent address where we can raise our kids and build up our life in God, to settle down and have some measure of stability; where instead of movable furniture, we will be putting up built-ins.

The great thing about our life in God though is that we have a permanent address the moment we accepted Christ in our life. Our address is Jesus Christ and it is as permanent as the Word of God is, that is unchanging from generations to generations as Jesus is the same yesterday, today and in the days to come. His love for us is steadfast and renewed every morning like dew. His faithfulness endures forever.

David spoke of dwelling in the house of God all the days of his life in Psalm 27. He used a similar expression in Psalm 23 that “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. The thing is that David was then on the run and hiding in a cave and he was speaking about dwelling in the house of God. We know that Jesus has gone back to heaven to prepare a home for us in the Father’s mansion. But until the day of Jesus Christ, our permanent address in God is wherever we are in His presence. The place where we stand, where we live – where we worship Him and read His Word and spend time in prayer in our quiet time with Him – that’s our permanent address in God. Our home is an extension of God’s kingdom, an embassy of God. It is also our permanent address in God. As we close our eyes and worship and pray, God’s presence is with us and that’s our permanent address. In fact, wherever we are and may be, and it need not be at home, we can reach out to God and His presence is there, that’s our permanent address.

The beauty and amazing thing about our present relationship with God is that we are actually His dwelling place and as much as we want to dwell in the house of the LORD like David said, we are His dwelling place. As we reach out, God is with us. So wherever we are, we are our own permanent address with God! We carry the glory of God, the presence of God. Shall we fear evil, shall we fear the dark forces of the air? Though He may lead us through the valley of shadow of death, we shall fear no evil for His rod and staff comfort me, for the LORD is my shepherd and He now lives in me! Amen