Postcode Privilege

It is strange how some of life’s little details can trigger memories for you. I read in the Our Daily Bread notes recently that the Republic of Ireland now has postcodes. It adopted them in the summer of last year, apparently.

Learning this took me back to my days working in print and mail for a catalogue company, when I was “between churches” – without a pastorate, in other words. Sometimes the supervisor asked me to “do the Irish” – process the mail shots that were to go out to the Republic of Ireland. I recall that the labels were different and the bags were smaller than for the UK! Certainly, in those days, there were no postcodes in the Irish Republic, only postal areas. Life could be very confusing for postal workers because people with the same or similar names lived in different houses that had no distinguishing numbers or other identification.

The new postcode system is a boon to anyone wishing to deliver mail. Ireland is even in advance of many countries with postcodes, as every house has its unique identifier. In the UK, postcodes only narrow the target down to a group of properties.

The writer of the notes reminded us that each one of us is unique in the sight of God. This is just as well! My mother once told me how, when I was christened, the muddle-headed old priest mixed me up with another baby that was being done at the same time.

It would be just too crushing to the spirit to think that God could make the same mistake. But He knows each of us directly. He notices the problems of each one and the personalities of each one. His relationship with us is tailored to our walk in life. He grieves over each of our falls, and notes with pleasure the steps of our spiritual progress.

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD,

you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. …

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

(From Psalm 139 ESV)

There is a challenging side to this knowledge. The Psalm-writer is well aware that the all-knowing God not only picks him out from the crowd, but sees his sins and faults as well:

Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

It is comforting to know that there is One in heaven who both knows us through and through and cares – cares enough to send His only Son to die for us. But that also means we have something to live up to.

Identity

What is your identity? I sometimes think that my identity has been reduced to a date of birth, a national insurance number, a physical address, a phone number and an email address. That is all that the official people seem to want to know about me.

As for family relationships, in these days of genetics it seems to revolve around who you inherited your genes from. Your DNA defines your paternity and many of the characteristics you possess.

The Middle Ages were a different age. In those days the correct answer to the question of identity was supposed to be, "I am a Christian".

The Archbishop of Canterbury has had a recent shock. He has discovered that the father he thought he inherited his genes from was not in fact his biological father. A DNA test unearthed that it was somebody completely different. The Archbishop has received credit for the way he has handled this news, which for some people could be really devastating. He can respond to the news about his paternity with calmness and even humour, since he regards his real identity as being in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This seems to me an excellent response and a challenge to the thinking of the current age. Many times at funerals a list is read out of relationships that the dead person has had: father, brother, son, uncle, husband … and so the list goes on.

No doubt for some people the recital of this is comforting. I would certainly not wish to deprive them of their solace at funeral times. All I know is that I personally no longer qualify for such a memorial. I have no living blood relatives left to testify how good I am as a family member. So, more than ever, I find my true identity where it really is – the fact that I am a Christian.

If that is truly a man or woman’s lasting memorial, it is a great loss if they decline in their lifetimes to claim a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. If they persist in not finding their identity in Him, they are virtually robbing themselves of their place in history and in eternity at the same time.

The apostle Peter distanced himself from his Master three times in quick succession. When invited to declare his association with Him at a dangerous moment, He denied all knowledge of Him.  Fortunately, there was a way back for Peter. After Jesus had risen from the dead, the merciful Saviour made a point of visiting Peter specially. He challenged him to renew his allegiance and once again find his identity in Him – a challenge which Peter now readily accepted. Not only did he cease to be a nobody, he is forever remembered as the natural spokesman for the remaining disciples who made up the first Christian Church.

The apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy reminds us:

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful –
for he cannot deny himself.”

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)

Who are you? What is your identity? I hope you do not rely on your genetic make-up or your nationality or your race or any such thing. Come rain or shine, come easy times or the cold winds of persecution, we need to remind ourselves of this one thing that really matters: "I am a Christian".