Seek the Peace (2)

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29.11

A matter of perspective
The danger exists that we in the Christian community become numb to the corruption and worldliness of our day, and decide that such is the norm, and there’s nothing we can do about it except to keep as far from it as possible.

We are becoming so accustomed to the forsaking of traditional values, the undermining and fragmenting of long-established institutions, and the breakdown of morality and civility, that we can begin to regard these conditions as the norm, the best we can hope for in an age in flight from God, such as our own. The images of the Church as the salt of the earth, light of the world, and leaven of righteousness, peace, and joy can seem little more than wishful thinking against the sad and scary backdrop of contemporary life.

Everywhere we look in our day, the prophetic words of William Butler Yeats, in his 1919 poem, “The Second Coming,” seem to be coming true: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world./The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/the ceremony of innocence is drowned.”

But the appearances, which press upon us daily, are only a matter of perspective. As a friend once reminded me, a penny is a very small thing – until you hold it right next to your eye. In the same way, many believers today spend so much time analyzing, criticizing, and condemning the broken conditions of our hapless society that they have lost sight of the larger realities within which those conditions are occurring. They’re holding the wrong thing up to their eye.

The people of Jerusalem, carried off to captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar, were in danger of making a similar mistake. But Jeremiah understood that they needed to keep a proper perspective on their situation, and the way to do that was by focusing on and striving toward the exceedingly great and precious promises of God.

Partake of God?
Like Jeremiah in his day, the Apostle Peter reminded a community of persecuted believers, mid-way through the first century, that their circumstances were not so bad as to be able to cancel the promises of God. In Jesus Christ, our Lord holds out “exceedingly great and precious promises,” Peter explained, so that by these promises, leaving the corruption of the world behind us, the people of God could partake of the very essence of the divine King Himself (2 Pet. 1.4)!

Eyes on the promises
In the same way, Jeremiah counseled the Jews in captivity to remember the promises and plan of God, a plan first spoken to Abraham, reinforced through Moses, and broadened under King David. God determined to redeem a people for Himself and to bless them so that they, in turn, could be a blessing to all the nations.

God promised to give Himself to His people, so that, in fellowship with Him they could know fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16.11). He promised to make them a great nation, who, by their righteousness and love for one another would be the envy of all the surrounding nations (Deut. 4.1-8). And He promised to send a great King to shepherd them, so that they could realize all the promises of God’s great and glorious plan (Gen. 49.8-11; Jer. 23.3, 4).

These were exceedingly great and precious promises, indeed! By focusing on these promises, and embracing the plan of God to give them a future and a hope, the exiled people of Jerusalem would find a proper orientation for understanding their times, and the right means and incentive to know the outworking of God’s plan for their lives.

Likewise today
So today, when things are falling apart all around us, when the center of Western civilization seems to be coming unglued, and anarchy, violence, and self-serving are on every hand, the followers of Jesus Christ must not lose sight of the promises of God. The promises made to Abraham and recalled by Peter are still our promises today (cf. Rom. 4.16-25). They remain exceedingly great and precious, and still have the power to enable us to partake of the divine nature – to know God in His glory and to live for His glory, no matter how bad the conditions around us may become.

God has great plans for us, plans to bless us, and to make us a blessing. And we must daily focus on those promises and strive toward their realization, for if we do, God will surely bless us and make us a blessing to our sad and weary world. We will be His people, He will be our God, and He will do great things in, for, and through us. Then even the sad world around us will be compelled to admit, “The LORDhas done great things for them” (Psalm 126.2).

For reflection
1.  In what ways do you see that Christians are “numb” to the conditions of the world?

2.  What about our being salt, light, and leaven to the world? Are these images no longer relevant? Explain.

3.  What does it mean to partake of the divine nature? How do the exceedingly great and precious promises of God accomplish this in us?

Next steps – Preparation: Would you say that the exceedingly great and precious promises of God constitute the “penny” you hold up to your eye? Talk with a fellow believer about this question.

T. M. Moore

This is part 1 of a 5-part series, Living toward the Promises. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here. You can learn more about living toward the promises of God by ordering a copy of the book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. In this course T. M. Moore provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in an age in flight from God such as ours. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.