Esther 8:8 (ESV)

[8] But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”

Esther and Mordecai are given incredible power in Esther 8. The king said to them, “Write as you please.” This privilege came as the result of a request to the king by Esther. But notice, it didn’t originate with a legal move on their part. There were no legal briefs demanding protection for their people. There were no uprisings. There were no demonstrations in the streets. There was fasting and there was a respectful request at just the right time. What preceded the request, however, was the fact that the king was safe and Persia was better off because of their presence. The king’s life had been spared because Mordecai passed word of to him of an attempt on his life. The queen was pleasing to the king. Esther’s request began with these words, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight…and I am pleasing in his eyes” (Esther 8:5 ESV). The king and the country was better off because of the presence of Esther and Mordecai.

I recently read an article calling for the removal of tax exemption from churches. I read another article about a new children’s club starting in schools to counteract the influence of Child Evangelism Fellowship’s Good News Clubs. Their reasoning was that Good News Clubs teach children to hate. Apparently they’ve never actually attended a Good News Club. Be that as it may, the world increasingly sees Evangelicals as hate mongers. Some of that is simply because they disagree with us, and disagreement has come to mean hate in our world. But some of that is our own fault. The reason churches and non-profits were given tax exemption was because they provide benefit to the community that is of greater value than their tax dollars. So… is your community better because your church is there? Is your community better because you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, are there? Is that what Jesus meant when he said that we are to be salt and light in a dark, decaying world?

Over the past thirty years, evangelicals have made law, protest, legal moves, and demands for our rights the foundation of our influence in our communities. Is it any wonder that the world sees us as haters? Maybe it is time to change tactics. What if our communities were better places because we are here? How might that change our influence and the world’s perspective? Like Esther and Mordecai, we need to learn to trust the unseen hand of God behind the scenes and be the presence of Christ in grace and peace in our communities.

When the Jews were carried off into captivity they were instructed, “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 ESV). Maybe it is time we switch tactics and embrace the wisdom of Jeremiah 29:7. What if we worked toward and prayed, not for the judgment, repentance, or brokenness of our country, but for its welfare? What if we filed less legal briefs and simply served more people? What if we lived in such a way that the world said, “We need our churches!” Let’s be honest, right now they are saying, “Churches are irrelevant.”

It makes me wonder. I wonder how God might be calling me to serve the community instead of just serving the church. I wonder how God might be calling me to be an influence for the welfare of my community. I wonder how that might change the world’s attitude toward the church? Clearly the church will have enemies. Haman wanted to destroy the Jews. But the unseen hand of God was at work behind the scenes. Mordecai and Esther worked for the welfare of the city. Is that what we should do? It makes me wonder, and it makes me pray for wisdom.