“Why care? The world is sinking into a swamp of sin and decay. People and cultures are choosing death over life. Sexual sin is rampant. Children are treated as punishment not gifts. Why shouldn’t the church give up? Why not retreat to little enclaves where we will await the return of Christ?”
In the early sixth century BC, many Jews had been carried off into captivity by Babylon. They longed for a return to their home in Jerusalem. Some people, calling themselves prophets, were saying that a return was imminent. God laid upon his servant Jeremiah the responsibility of sending a letter to those in exile to tell them the truth. There would be no delivery for seventy years [v.10]. But God had more than a message of waiting.
Jeremiah 29:4-7 4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
As Christians, our true citizenship is in heaven; our true home is with the Lord. But until the Lord calls us home, or comes for His church, we are here, in exile. It is an interesting point that the seventy years mentioned in Jeremiah’s letter is the same length of time Psalm 90:10 gives for a man’s life – three score and ten. What should we do with our lifetime in exile? Isn’t it likely that we should do what the earlier exiles were charged to do? To get on with the affairs of life – to marry and see our sons and daughters married. To build and grow – to increase, not decrease. To seek the peace and prosperity of this land where God has placed us; surely that should be our goal as well.
To seek the peace and prosperity of America, we must engage with life – not hide from it. It is as we go about such engagement that we intersect the lives of our neighbors and co-workers, customers and clients, teachers and students. In each and every one of these relations we have the chance to further the peace and prosperity of the land in which God has placed us. For it isn’t just a matter of material peace and prosperity. It’s also a matter of truth spoken amidst a cacophony of lies. Of piercing light in a world veiled in the shadows of the enemy. Surely this is our charge, one we cannot fulfill by hiding in some sought after obscurity, vainly hoping that the wicked world will pass by our door.
We must seek the peace and prosperity of our land boldly and openly, not because we are great, but because He is. Not because we are better than those around us, but because we know who we are – sinners saved by grace. And finally, we must pray for this land, for as it prospers, so will we. And when our days here are complete, we may hope that the same promise will apply to us, namely:
10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Our hope is in the Lord, and our future home is with Him. We await the fulfillment of His promise, but we must not wait idly. We must seek the peace and prosperity of our temporary home.
~Randall Hill
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