Seek the Welfare of Who?
Jeremiah 29:7 But Seek the welfare of the city where I have exiled you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.
It’s so Opposite. In a world of selfies and self-care and self-promotion, seeking out the welfare of those around you, especially those who definitely don’t “deserve” you is antithetical. If we want to succeed or move forward, our focus is most definitely on us and what we need or want. Jeremiah says - seek to move others forward and pray for them and in that place you will find your health, happiness and fortune. If you’re a thinking person, you have to ask, ”Does that really work?”
For whatever reason, when I read that verse this morning, my first thought was, “Joseph”. He’s a perfect example of living that way. Out in the fields, he was there for his father’s sake, and for the sake of his brothers. In Potipher’s house, even though a slave, he sought out the success of his master. Wrongfully imprisoned, he served as if he were a paid employee and invested in the personal lives of those he was imprisoned with. He lived out the mandate to seek the welfare of those in your sphere in the place you have been exiled to like no one else I know of.
My second thought was, “Did Joseph find His welfare in their welfare?” No and Yes. There were seasons where hope must have risen up for him: the success he had in Potipher’s house and then the hope of being remembered by the Cup Bearer to the King in prison, but there were 14 years of largely difficult and unfair circumstances that he endured on his way to the fulfillment of God’s original promise given in a teenager’s dream. James 1 comes to mind: “perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Joseph endured through difficult, unfair circumstances and maintained godly character that didn’t only stay out of causing trouble, but focused its energies on the welfare of those around him. Opposite. Completely counter-cultural. And yet, the eventual outcome? Joseph found his own welfare in what he had invested in others. Not in every other that he invested in, but the enduring, engrained in his character attribute of being a person who sought out the welfare of those around him resulted in him receiving his own welfare.
So where do you find yourself exiled today? A difficult Job, boss, or co-worker? Maybe a marriage that isn’t turning out like you’d hoped and it’s hard to stay? Family? Illness? Whatever it is, what are you going to do about it? Seek the welfare of you or those around you? Jeremiah’s claim is that to seek the welfare of those around you is truly to seek the welfare of yourself as well. Like everything else Kingdom, it takes faith to act. What will you believe?
