Where do you live? It seems a simple enough question, really. But the answer is possibly deeper and more complex than you might imagine.
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It seems a simple enough question, really. But the answer is possibly deeper and more complex than you might imagine.
Back when I was traveling some 220-250 days a year, if I was asked “Where do you live?” I often replied by saying, “Seat 12-D” or some such thing. It was a joking way of indicating that I spent a great deal of time in a jet flying somewhere. But where you live – where you truly call “home” – says something.
When asked this question, you might reply very broadly, with only the name of your country. Even that can get complicated and emotion-charged, when your country has more than one name. Think, for example, of the situation in Israel / Palestine. If your home is resting upon a plot of land there, the country name you identify with says a good deal about you.
Your answer to the question might be to identify your state, or even the name of a nearby major city. When I speak of where I grew up I talk about Boston. I’m not being deceptive, I’m just giving a reference that might actually hold meaning for the person I speak with. When I was living in a small town in rural North Carolina, I’d indicate how small a community it was by saying, “I live in Albemarle, You know, right there next to Frog Pond and Red Cross.” (Yes, those are all REAL names of REAL places. I’d be surprised if you’d heard of any of them.)
Your answer might focus on a specific neighborhood or portion of the place you live. It may be “Riverside” or “Manhattan” or “Woodvale.” Or even just a general “the upper west side” of town.
But how does God answer that question? He answers it with a name of a person, not a place. He says, “I live in Julie” or “I live in Mark.” Because while it is true that God is everywhere, He is also in some places more specifically at certain times. Jesus was just as certainly in the Upper Room BEFORE HE WALKED THROUGH THE WALL as He was after He did so. He is not only everyWHERE, He is everyWHEN.
Today’s verse says IF ANYONE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, GOD LIVES IN THEM AND THEY IN GOD.
If you have declared your allegiance to Jesus Christ, He lives in YOU.
If that last sentence didn’t take your breath away for just a moment, you need to stop, go back and re-read it!
The God who spoke the entire universe into being has decided YOU are a worthy place to call home.
WOW !!
John goes on to amaze me even more when he writes the last part of the verse …. “AND THEY LIVE IN GOD.”
Not only does he want to be “at home” in you; the Almighty wants you to be “at home” in HIM. He wants you to feel welcome, to be comfortable.
Today I’ve got a message from God just for you. He says, “Make yourself at home.”
