Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
HOW SHOULD I PRAY FOR AMERICA?
Wherever God leads us, wherever we make our home, we must care about that place and its citizens and its health and welfare. In Jeremiah’s day, the leaders of Israel had been carried off to live in exile in Babylon. They had every reason for bitterness and frustration, losing their homeland, their Temple, and their place in the world. It was all so threatening to their identity as God’s chosen people. Yet God wanted his displaced and disoriented people to pray for the needs of their new community! Israel had to learn what Jesus made clear—this earth, no matter where we live, is not our home, for we are citizens of his Kingdom and aliens on the earth. Though this would seem to distance us from particular ties to countries and societies, it actually frees us. Through a greater loyalty, we are able to love freely the little kingdoms we live within, even as we serve a greater King.
Imagine life in exile in Babylon.
Do you have any sense of being a Kingdom exile now?
FAMILY TIME—
What problem in our community do you care most about it?
