March 20, 2025, my wife, daughter and I were at one of the two highest points in St. Joseph, Missouri (it is argued between Ft. Smith or King Hill, but for the sake of this writing I will focus on Ft. Smith). It was at this vantage point during the Civil War that Union soldiers kept vigil not only the city of St. Joe, but also anything moving eastward from Kansas, as well as anything desiring to make its way up or down the Missouri River. The photo above show both perspectives of today. St. Joe: urban, active, growing, lots of city opportunity. The Kansas side: empty prairie. A natural border between the two: the mighty Missouri River which is the longest river in the United States. And what did I see on that date? I saw a city with an old and rich history. But I also saw a city broken. For all the growth and newness in the very northern part of the city, the very eastern part of the city, much of the rest of the city has remained nearly the same for the past nearly 50 years (save pockets of efforts for revitalization in various parts). The religious spirit in that city is virtually is as old as the city itself being the home to a host of churches throughout its history and even today. And yet what did I see as I scanned the city, drove through its neighborhoods and highways, and visited a number of places (including Fort Smith)? The pioneering spirit has long-since left. Memories and stories of glorious days long-since gone, some nearly 100 years old, leaving brokenness, decay, hopelessness, and lack of vision. It became a place of settle…to accept what cannot be done or made new. Many of us can say the same thing about our cities of origins or the cities that we dwell in now.
Many years and many bad kings since the time of King David led the nations of Israel and Judah. They would have brief times of prosperity to then live in times of decay and depravity. It was bad enough when the enemy was from the outside—the Syrians, Babylonians, Medes, etc.—but the inner enemy was perhaps their worst enemy. Wicked kings who surrounded themselves with yes men. Leaders of various kinds who were content with their own prosperity upon the backs and necks of its people.
History is often cyclical, often repeating itself. The name attitudes were evident with England and Europe—corruption, decay, hitting walls of progress and future—while the New World was new frontier. Men like David Brainerd who was one of the first major missionaries to the Native Americans took the Great Commission as his marching orders and went forth. He, as other missionaries whom I wrote about, never lived to a ripe old age (he lived to the age of 29) because all they held in their eyes was the passionate desire to “seek and to save that which is lost”. So much so was this passionate calling that he turned down numerous offers and opportunities to be a pastor of a church (which would had meant to leave the mission field). And what did he reply with, “I could have no freedom in the thought of any other circumstances of business in life: All my desire was the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God: God does not suffer me to please or comfort myself with hopes of seeing friends, returning to my dear acquaintance, and enjoying worldly comforts.”
With the above along with recent years of musing over the passion that now seems to be in the place of many Christians today, a verse of scripture came to me from my favorite prophet of the Old Testament, “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished” (Jeremiah 29:5-6). I understand the context but I wish to withdraw from that prophetic and historical context to just focus on the surface posture of the words. Not in any of the words are sacrifice, pioneer, blaze a trail, be on the cutting edge, or to fight. The words spoken by Jeremiah were words of settling, accepting, make the best out of the situation. Those words are foreign words that depart from vision, leaving the comfort, to have families, children, get the family involved with community things, be content to attend a church, hang with friends, buy and sell, eat out, shop, and just live life that way year after year after year. These are words that make us content to sit in our chair, in our row, in our church, perhaps serve in a ministry, give some money in the plate (never a sacrifice), and the only stories shared amongst the brethren is what are our children and grandchildren doing.
And with what I finished saying, a few words in the previous verse captured my attention…As if the verses above were physical or what we visually see around us. But we know there is a spiritual dynamic that also exists, including the subtle and soothing melodies from the Enemy. And there are these few words in verse four that made me fearful of the mindset of the modern Christian Church: “to all who were carried away captive”. Decision which begat other decisions, and what were once chords of feathers and easy to break free items became chords of leather to eventually chords and bars of steel. Vision gives way to comfort. The need to be financially secure, to have things, to go out with stuff (if we ever go at all)…And yet if we were given instructions as Jesus gave to the 70 when they went out to have the very bare minimum and don’t take food, we would spin out in a panic or never take a foot forward. We like our Starbucks and Monster. We like our Walmart and Cabela’s. We like our Tesla and GMC. We don’t rent with an easy opportunity to part ways and go to another place; now we buy houses…nice houses and bind us to agreements that make it difficult to respond to His desires. Living on shoe-string budgets and believing God for miracles give way to family events always conflicting with church schedules and the need for large funds before we even go out on an outreach. We were once free to say yes or I’ll go, now give way to I can’t or I won’t. The Great Commission, a commandment, becomes optional and only out of convenience and only to our limits.
God’s promises and Callings are irrevocable—even if our attitude is the same as Job’s friends and say that it is all over for us and God has moved onto others instead—with these words in Jeremiah 29:10-14 (keep in mind these verses with what I said about comfort versus the Commission, and emphasis added), “…I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 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. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” What has held our hearts and lives captive? Is it comfort? Is it “the land of settle and acceptance”? Is it as it seems to be too much effort to make that phone call or to go do that necessary thing so you can be used for His purposes? What is our captivity? What can be done? Outside of a prayer of repentance, we cannot do anything to fix this. The answer is found in Ephesians 4:7-8, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’” Jesus will captivate those things that have held us captive. He will unlock His gifts, His fresh anointing, His favor.
What did I see on that hill at Fort Smith on March 20, 2025? I saw captivity. The answer? Jesus is the only one who can make captivity captive. What do you see from your hill?