Monday, December 29, 2014

Today’s topic is not about physical addresses although, to be honest, they have played an important part in my life. As many of you are aware, I was a postal clerk for over 35 years, and zip codes, cities, streets, and specific addresses still live in my brain even today, many years after my retirement from the USPS. I still know, by their zip codes or addresses, most streets and some residences and places of business in San Antonio. Today, however, I am thinking about the way we address one another. Yesterday in church I addressed one of my granddaughters as “my little girl.” Since she is in her middle teens, she quickly reminded me that she is not a little girl. I explained to her why I so foolishly and carelessly called her that, and that is the gist of today’s meditation.  

       I believe that the way people address us says a lot about their relationship with us. For example, there are still some members in the church that seem intent on calling me “Joe”, and although that’s my name, the only people in the world that I will call only by their first name are those who are in my immediate family. When I address adult members of our church or those I know are Christians, I always refer to them as “Brother” or “Sister”, with the exception of those whom I consider “family.” It is a form as well as a title of respect and an acknowledgement that we are members of the same family. (God’s)

       In his first epistle to the church, (in the King James Version) John addressed it’s members as “little children” nine times. When you read it in it’s entirety it is evident that he calls them that because he loves them dearly. Here is one example: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Although senior citizens may hear it a lot from people they don’t know, terms such as “cutie”, “sweetheart”, “honey”, “sweetie pie” and others are terms of endearment and if people that know you call you by any of these names, it simply means that they love you.

Memory verse for the week: (1 John 2:28) “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear , we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at his coming.”