Better Chaplain Series - Bloom Where You're Planted

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit,” says the old proverb. Military members, almost to a man, will make improvements that they shall not enjoy long (if at all); it’s the nature of our mission, including chaplains, to be a blessing for a finite amount of time and then we head on to our next assignment.

In a grander sense, this world is not our home either, we are temporarily on mission here to make disciples and bless people, ultimately convincing them that here we have no lasting city, we seek the city that is to come.

The people of Israel went to a land that they did not choose and they did not like; the intention was to leave their place of exile and get home as soon as possible. But God had other plans for them, he left them in that assignment for 70 years with the standing command to not just seek their own welfare, but the welfare of everyone around them.

Men like Nebuchadnezzar have been eternally blessed because God had Christians live in a place that was not their home. Peter, in his first letter to the church, makes it clear that Christians are living in this exile from their true home, and seeking the welfare of the cities in which God has sent them into exile.

Only one life,
‘Twill soon be past,
Only what’s done
for Christ shall last. ~ Charles Thomas Studd

Key Text: 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. ~ Jeremiah 29:7

More:

1. If you’re supposed to bear fruit in the place you’re sent into exile, is there a parallel for the person who is not happy in the body they are wearing?

2. The South Dakota state bird, the Ring-Necked Pheasant, and the Oryx in New Mexico were only released in the last century or so, yet are thriving in their new environments. Christians need one thing to thrive, and that’s Jesus to walk alongside them. Where in this world could Jesus send you that you wouldn’t be able to not just survive, but thrive in the role he has for you?

3. Peter concludes his letter with, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings…” How could someone in Babylon hear about the living Christ and be saved by his amazing grace if God had not sent someone to Babylon to bring the good news? Chaplain, does she who is in your place of exile send greetings?

Resources:

Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to that Which is to Come, Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream. London: Nathaniel Ponder, 1678.

Lawton, Wendy. The Tinker’s Daughter: A Story Based on the Life of Mary Bunyan. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2002.

Piper, John. Don’t Waste Your Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2003.