Effectiveness In The Midst of Hostility

“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” (Jer 29:7 AV)

The LORD’s instruction to His people was to learn to peaceably co-exist with their captors.  If they saught the peace of the city to which they would be carried away, not only would they personally have peace, but they would also be benefiting the city as well.  This would also help to ensure their safety.  Although we know by the book of Esther it was not always the case, for the most part, the Jewish population had a good testimony above all others in the eyes of their captive governments.  Not only were the people to seek the peace of the city, but they were also told to pray for that city.  They were to be more concerned with the depravity of the city and the city’s need of God then they were the conditions of their own captivity.  This is why the reader will notice Jews rising to the top of administrations.  There were Daniel and his three acquaintances.  There were Mordecai and Esther.  There was Nehemiah.  There was Moses.  There was Jeremiah.  There was Joseph.  On and on the list goes.  We see God use those believers who learn to live in peace and pray for the peace of their captors rather than look for every opportunity to stir strife or dissension.

Almost a decade ago, I volunteered and served as a hospital chaplain.  Many of my independent Baptist brethren accused me of compromise.  They erroneously believed I was compromising my individually held biblical convictions in order to work with faith traditions that believed a false plan of salvation.  They erroneously assumed I was hindered in my liberty to share the gospel of Christ with patients I might meet, or worse yet, be required to administer some rite which in good conscience, I could not do.  There were restraints put on my liberty but rather than fight against those restraints, I found a way around them that would honor the restriction but still effectively minister to the soul in need.  One of those restrictions was I could not promote my particular faith and had to support theirs. In good conscience, I could not.  The workaround was to introduce myself as a volunteer Chaplin who pastors a church in the area.  That led to a question of what church.  After I answered that, the next question was what I believed.  I learned to answer questions that would honor the restriction but would naturally generate questions from the patient.  In this way, I was not aggressively promoting the gospel, but rather, generating an atmosphere where I could share my faith.  The point is, I didn’t fight what seemed like an unreasonable compromise.  I simply asked the LORD to give me wisdom in how to do that which He called me to do while keeping peace with those who ruled over me.  This opened doors of witness that I would never have ever had before.

Whether we like it or not, in this world we are captives.  The believer is always in the minority.  We will always live in a hostile world.  Our calling is not to rise up and fight off the physical restrains of an ungodly government for the sake of personal liberty.  That doesn’t mean we should reasonably fight for it if it can be won.  What this does mean is we are not called to fight a physical battle for liberty.  We are called to fight a spiritual battle for the sake of freeing those who are captive to sin – not governmental control.  As Paul said, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph 6:12 KJV)  Some may look at my words and accuse me of being a sheeple or compromiser.  To be a sheeple, one must believe all those who are trying to control you are saying.  I do not.  I don’t have to believe it in order to comply.  Rather, I choose to fight a bigger battle than the little one which the pre-occupied have chosen to make large.  The battle we are to fight is for the souls of mankind and that requires we seek peace, pray for peace, and pray for those who wish to control us.