A glimpse of glory on my way home from work

We Christians love the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 that says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

We print it in gold letters on birthday cards and graduation announcements. We throw it around like fairy dust over down-sizing or downtrodding. (I don’t think that’s a word.)

But sometimes we forget where it came from. We forget it was written to a bunch of ungrateful exiles in a foreign land. They had been marched off to Babylon because they turned their backs on God. They probably expected Him to rescue them at any minute.

Instead, God told them, “Make yourselves at home. Build houses and plant vineyards. Marry and have children. Get a life. Because you are going to be in this land until your grandchildren are well-grown.”

If you think about it, we are in pretty much the same shape as these exiles. The Bible says the whole earth groans under a curse of captivity. (I’m not bitter. If Adam and Eve hadn’t eaten the fruit, I probably would have been the one to do it.) You, me, and the trees are all waiting for a day when we can live the way God really designed us to be. Free. Full. Forever.

Until then, we’re supposed to do the same thing as those exiles. Build houses. Plant fields. Marry and have children. Get a real life centered in God yet content in this world.

I can do that.