Misquotedਨਮੂਨਾ

How many times have you seen “Jeremiah 29:11” on a plaque, t-shirt, or bookmark? “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” People often use this verse as encouragement when when someone graduates, starts a new career, or goes through a loss. The verse is most often interpreted as saying something along these lines: “I, God, know what’s coming for you- and it’s all good, believe me. You have a bright future ahead of you.” This verse gets taken out of context because we fail to read what was going on before and after. When we look at the context surrounding the verse, things make a lot more sense. This particular sentence was spoken by God to the people of Israel while they were exiled in Babylon. He told them this to encourage them that he would rescue them from their exile in the future. God knew what would happen to the Israelites, so he wanted to give them hope. God offers us that same hope, but he never guarantees that our lives will be great. Life is full of hardships. There are constantly things tearing us down. But, we have hope in Jesus and that our eternity is sealed in Him. Even when things don’t look hopeful, we have an eternal hope that conquers all. That is a hope that we can count on.

Challenge: Take a minute today to reflect on what it means to have eternal hope. What difference does it make for followers of Jesus to hope for eternity instead of the present?