Jeremiah 29:4-11 (ESV) 4 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. 10 "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
For the sake of brevity please consider the above Scriptures in regard to the following questions:
First, do I believe God has sent me to the city I live in with a specific mission in mind for my life?
Second, do I live in my city with a sense of 'permanence' or do I live in a 'temporal' mindset?
Third, when I wake up everyday do I pursue the welfare of myself first or my city first? Where are my prayers primarily directed?
Fourth, have I believed a lie of the enemy that tells me to pursue "personal peace" at all costs?
Fifth, do I want the promise of v. 11 and yet forget the preceding verses which actually will help see this promise fulfilled?
Our response to these questions will help us determine whose peace we are pursuing and indicate to us our ability to change our culture. Jesus came to the earth as a 'cultural missionary.' He lived like Jeremiah told the Israelites to live while they were sent into exile. Can you imagine how bound Jesus must have felt while he walked the earth? Here He was God living in the flesh...what a torment that must have been, yet He sought the welfare of His city and His people first before his own welfare. I wonder how great an impact we could make on our cities if we simply imbibed this incredible 'selflessness' that Jesus possessed. Not selflessness for simple self-gratification, but selflessness with a mission to reconcile people back to God. Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ...
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (ESV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Today, let us press on to the mission of reconciliation and not personal peace. Personal peace is an enemy of God, yet this empty idea is fully embraced in our culture...don't believe the lie. In Christ's kingdom the way up is down, the way to life is death, and the way to exaltation is humility. I leave you with Christ's words:
Mark 10:45 (ESV) 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
