A Change Of Address

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t hardly seems possible but I have been in Fort Worth for almost 18 years.  I distinctly remember making the decision to leave North Carolina to attend seminary in Texas.  It was an exciting and very anxious time as I began to make preparations to move my life from the only home I had ever known to a place that was far away, among people I did not know, and for a period of undetermined length. 

In May of 1997, I boarded a plane for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.  After a brief two-hour flight, I arrived at the place that would become my home.  A visit to the seminary confirmed that this was the place to which God was calling me.  I had already been accepted so I went to the student center and secured a post office box, giving me a new address and establishing my residency in Texas even though I wasn’t living there physically.

A few weeks before my departure for seminary, I mailed out several change-of-address-cards, informing friends and family of my moving date, my new address, and my new phone number.  I wanted to make sure they knew where I would be and how to reach me with a phone call or a card when they had the chance.  I remember looking at the cards as I picked them up from the printer. It looked very strange to see my name with a Texas address under it but it didn’t feel odd or out of the ordinary.  In fact, it felt right.  That new address was God’s confirmation to me that I was on the right track, following the plan He had for my life.  In order to accomplish all that God had planned for me, it was necessary for me to change addresses.

Changing addresses can be exciting and daunting at the same time. However, God has been so faithful and He continues to be in every area of life.  I am confident that wherever He leads me, even though I don’t understand the why or the when, He has a plan for my life and He will remain faithful to bring it to fruition.  The only thing He requires of me is to change addresses when He says to.

The idea of changing addresses was not lost on the Apostle Paul.  In fact, in his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul stressed the importance for believers to understand that their citizenship was no longer in this world but in Heaven.  He makes this point in Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is such an important point for us to grasp as well.  The Scriptures clearly teach that God considers us to present with Him in Heaven already.  Since we are in Christ, we have changed our citizenship from this secular world to citizenship in Heaven.

In essence, we experienced a change of address when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  We no longer belong to this world but we belong to God.  Our lives need to reflect this change in addresses.  It should become evident to all those reading our actions and listening to our words that we belong to God and have established residency with Him.

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re we giving evidence today of an address change?  Do our lives reflect the fact that we belong to God and that our former address, our old way of life, is no longer a place where we can be reached?  Do those around us understand that they need to forward our mail to our new address, knowing they can reach us in the places of service to which God has called us to work until we reach our final destination?  Have we effected, really effected, a change of address?