As a kid, did you regularly visit a place that seemed almost magical to you? For me, it was my grandparents’ home. We visited them each summer, and I always made incredible memories.
However, as I grew older, things changed. Cousins grew distant, marriages in our extended family fell apart, hardships changed family dynamics, and then my grandparents passed away. Returning for a visit as a young adult, I remember thinking, “This is not how I remember it. I don’t recognize this place anymore. I wish I could go back to the way it used to be.”
I believe many of us battle these same feelings and emotions toward our world today. Things have changed in so many ways, much of it at warp speed. It is almost like we have “cultural whiplash,” causing confusion, shock, surprise, and sadness. It is like we don’t even recognize where we live anymore.
These shifting sands of culture have a profound impact on many Christians. The easiest thing to do is respond with disgust, anger, disappointment, judgment, disdain, and bitterness. It seems our world has turned upside down. However, we must remember no one in history was there at the wrong time. Every believer exists when and where for a reason. Consider Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was an Israelite priest who lived and worked in Jerusalem during the final decades of Judah. He was called as a prophet to warn Israel about the consequences of breaking their covenant with God through idolatry and injustice. Jeremiah predicted the Babylonian Empire would bring God’s judgment on Israel by destroying Jerusalem and taking the people into exile. Sadly, his words proved true. Jeremiah lived through the destruction of Jerusalem and experienced the exile personally. His message of judgment tore down his listeners, but his words also built them up. He confronted Israel’s sin and warned them of God’s impending judgment, but he also delivered a grace-filled message of hope for the future.
Jeremiah 29 is a letter from God through Jeremiah, a message to the exiles already in Babylon. Babylon conquered Judah in waves, three successive attacks. With each stage, a new group of captives was carried away into exile. Those to whom Jeremiah wrote in this chapter had been carried away in the first and the second attacks. Jeremiah and the survivors of the first two attacks remained in Jerusalem.
It was not easy for those who found themselves enslaved in a strange land, with strange leaders, and a strange culture. It was not a place they wanted to be, and it was not a land they recognized. They wanted to leave. But in verses 4-6, Jeremiah delivered a shocking message: prepare to prosper in this world where you don’t belong.
This had to feel like a step backward. Babylon was not part of any Israelite’s plan. It was not a place to settle down and raise children, let alone prosper. But Babylon, the place they longed to leave, would become their home for 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10). We may not be Israelites living in Babylon, but Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles still speaks to those who find themselves stuck in a place they don’t belong.
Make Yourselves at Home
At first glance, it appeared the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar sent Israel into exile, not God. He was a pagan, an evil king with evil and cruel agendas. Surely, he caused this undesirable situation.
Not so fast! Jeremiah made it clear God worked His will through the pride and madness of Babylon’s king. God’s sovereign hand sent the people into exile.
We, too, need this reminder. We live in this place we don’t recognize, ultimately, because God has sent us to this place and time in history. And the providential hand of God never moves without purpose. We are not here alone. Our Master is present, even when we feel like strangers and exiles.
And what was the message to the exiles (and consequently to us)? Build houses, plant gardens, marry and raise families, and lead your families to faith in a strange place that “ye may be increased there, and not diminished” (Jeremiah 29:5-6).
I imagine a stir ran through the exiles as they read these words. Some false prophets had told them they were going home soon (Jeremiah 29:8-9). I’m sure thoughts of home consumed them, kept them from putting down roots. But 70 long years would pass before God’s people would return home. So, God instructed them to settle into the place they wanted to leave. God said: “Sink your roots into this soil, as hard as it may be, and dare to believe fruit can grow even here.”
Pursue Peace
Jeremiah did not stop there. He also urged the exiles to seek the peace of Babylon, to pray for the peace of their captive city (29:7). God did not tell them to bring Babylon down from the inside, to plot, to protest, to show resistance. Instead, God told the exiles to pray for their captors, to seek peace for them and with them, to be good citizens, to be kind and gracious, and to serve them.
Ultimately, God sent them to Babylon, and He reminded them to be a blessing while there.
Exiled people longing for home understandably focus on a small set of priorities: protect your family, make a living, and find every small measure of happiness. But God called his people to look farther and higher, to actively seek the welfare of the place they found themselves.
As believers in this world we no longer recognize, some days we long to be with Jesus, for His return, simply because we are done with this place. However, God has us here for a reason. Wherever you live, people need to hear what God has done for you, and what He can do for them. Jesus gives us a greater purpose to transform dry and barren ground into a fertile field awaiting harvest.
More Than Survival Mode
In longing for what used to be, we may have adopted a “let’s just get through this” mentality. Survival mode. “Hunker in the bunker,” so to speak. This is especially tempting for parents and grandparents. Admittedly, the next generation is growing up in a scary world. And yes! We must warn them about the dangers, traps, and lies the culture will put before them. But we also must teach our kids we are not here by accident. God has called them, and us, to “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). He commands us to influence culture with His truth, settle in, and seek the welfare and peace of this place.
Whether we realize it or not, kids today influence culture tomorrow. If we can help them see the world around them clearly and biblically, we can help them build a foundation to become world changers. (And to be blunt, sometimes our knee-jerk reactions to the culture aren’t the best example.)
For many Christians, “the culture” has become synonymous with the alternative lifestyles and immoral behavior tempting young people to abandon their morals and faith. If we see people as culture, and culture as the enemy, we’ll come to see people as the enemy. However, Scripture reminds us we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12). We must live out that verse before our kids and show them how it looks to be ridiculed, persecuted, and berated by people, and yet respond with the gentleness of Christ and the truth of the gospel.
It is tempting to become bitter, wondering, “Have we lost our culture?” But if we despair over “losing” our culture, we’ll lose sight of our responsibility to the culture. Christians throughout history have found themselves in cultural breakdowns, many far worse than the one we face today. In those moments, Christians often became forces of restoration, hope, and redemption — light in dark times.
When we allow ourselves to be shaped by the redemptive promise of God, we approach culture with a gospel-heavy heart rather than an “us versus them” attitude. A gospel-
centered heart is vital to show our kids how to react to the world around them biblically. Christ saved us from our sin, not to hide our salvation and retreat, but to share our redemption and thereby redeem our broken world with the gospel.
If older generations in the church only complain to our kids about how bad the culture is now, and how great it used to be, it sends mixed messages about faith. We are not called to escape from the broken world around us. No, we are called to live out our faith in our time, not another. Our culture is where God has given us the opportunity to bring life to His world.
Protecting our children is a godly endeavor, but sheltering them is not. Like all Christ followers, they are called to redeem the culture where God has placed them. By all indications, they’ve got quite a moment in history ahead, so they must be prepared. Safety is never the goal for the Christ follower but faithfulness.
When mature Christians seek the welfare of the towns and cities where God has placed us and engage the culture fully, deeply, and wisely, the godless culture won’t corrupt us. The opposite happens. We change culture. We teach it what is good, true, and beautiful. We need to show our kids how to be culturally successful ambassadors of truth, deeply engaged in this moment, courageously navigating threatening cultural currents, knowing we serve a cause and a God far greater than ourselves.
Christianity isn’t just about how to behave; it’s about knowing
who we are and living God’s call
to its fullest.
As painful as the word exile may have sounded to Israelites in Babylon, the word brought them to face a reality they struggled to remember at home. God, not Jerusalem, was their true dwelling place. They had always been “strangers and sojourners,” even in Jerusalem. Though the word exile felt like a sting, it was also a gift.
In Christ, we are also strangers and sojourners, exiles in a land we no longer recognize. But Christ, and Christ alone, remains our true dwelling place. One day soon, we will wake up in that place we long for, and we will live there forever. But for now, dear Christian exile, trust the wisdom of the Father. Unpack the suitcases. Settle into the here and now. Make disciples. Love people in Jesus’ name, even the people who hate you. Build, plant, and seek peace.
When we do this, the world around us will begin to see the Prince of Peace at work among us. Exiles…for the sake of redemption!
About the Writer: Aaron Pontious and his wife Casey have served in local church ministry since 2006. They have a heart for the community and for families and long to see the current generation, and generations to come, know Jesus and the power of His gospel.
