Embracing the Exile

Over the past few weeks, a particular tension has grown in our house.  Now I know exactly what is causing that feeling and there's nothing I can do to change it.  In fact, the cause of that tension is only going to continue to grow.  Right now, the cause is approximately 6 1/2 lbs and causing my very pregnant wife to consistently experience back pain, hip pain, headaches, neck aches, no sleep, heartburn, nausea, shortness of breath, on top of a general feeling of discomfort.  Now yes, contrary to appearances (this will be our fourth baby girl), my wife and I realize what has caused this tension...we are fully aware that we chose to invite this tension into our midst.  But some tensions, some difficulties, are outside of our decision.  Some difficulties are placed upon us and our response to those difficulties are the only things that we can control.

A few weeks ago, I wrote to you about a particular set of verses.   Jeremiah 29:4-7 states,

"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  'Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there and do not decrease.  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.'"

You see, the people of Israel experiencing exile in Babylon had a difficulty thrust upon them.  Verse four says that God is the one who carried them into exile.  It was His choice as a consequence for the disloyalty of their forefathers.  It wasn't a result of their disloyalty really...they were the recipients of judgment for someone else's actions, someone else's choices.  Now this isn't to say that this second-generation of exiles did not sin or make mistakes...it simply means that the original judgment they lived under, the difficulties of their existence, was the result of someone else's decisions.

Today, we live in a world of chaos.  From Syria to Washington D.C., across our nation and across the world, things just aren't right.  We exists in this world as a result of judgment for the actions of others and our legacy is tension.  We drift between what we inherited and what we do to add to that difficulty...but the original cause of why things are the way they are goes back a long way. Romans 5:16-17 says it in this way...

"Again, the gift of God is not like the results of one man's sin (Adam):  The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  For, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."

We exists in chaos because of the chaos created by a decision made thousands of years ago.  When Adam sinned for the very first time all creation was tainted by that choice and we are a living legacy of the judgment placed on Adam.  But Christ, interceding in the history of humanity, broke the cycle; He didn't eliminate all the chaotic consequences (yet), but for those who would believe in Him He radically destroyed the judgment.

Today, in the San Luis Valley as well as in your community, we are surrounded by those who are unaware that they have been freed from judgment.  That although God has placed each of us in our own circumstances of life with all of the accompanying chaos, difficulties, and tensions built in (our own personal exiles), He has provided solace and comfort and peace in the midst of all of it.  For those already following Jesus, He has placed them where they are to become solace and peace and light and life to those they have the opportunity to encourage and love every day.  So this week, embrace the exile...understand that you have been placed there for a reason...know that everyday you have the opportunity to live an example of "God's abundant provision of grace".  As you do that, I'll embrace the chaos of newborn screams, throaty and determined, and I'll thank God for lack of sleep, for messy little diapers, and the knowledge that even in the midst of tension I can extravagantly and recklessly love because I've been loved first.