Do you really know where you live?

One of the first things most parents teach their children as soon as they can is their home address and phone number. Mom and Dad want their little ones to know where they live if they should ever become lost or separated from them. But knowing the answer to the question, “Where do you live?” is helpful for adults, too.

A young Nazi was being initiated into a very elite group of soldiers and was asked by his commanding officer, “Son, where do you live?” “I live in Stuttgart, sir,” he replied. “Wrong answer!” barked the officer. “Where do you live?” The soldier thought and answered a second time: “I live in Germany, sir.” The officer inched closer to him, and shouted more loudly than before: “Wrong! Where do you live?” Now he had it. “I live in the Third Reich, sir.” But he was wrong again. When he was asked the fourth time, the young soldier gave up, saying “Sir, I don’t know how to answer.” The officer then told him, “From this day forward, when someone asks you ‘Where do you live?’ you say, ‘I live in Hitler’.” His residence was not a place...but a person.

Moses, at the end of his life, still did not dwell in Canaan...he lived in the Lord God Almighty. That was his home address. God was his dwelling place. The problem with most of those who are Christians is that they do not dwell or abide in Christ...they just come home for a visit every now and then. They visit on Sundays. On Easter and Christmas. In times of personal crisis, perhaps. But they do not make their home in Him. Jesus said “Abide in me.” We do not need to wonder for a moment where we should live.