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Reflections on Jeremiah 29—Part 2
A few days ago, I began a series on God's letter to His exiled people in Babylon, recorded in Jeremiah 29. In the last post, we considered the original context of this passage, which is often disregarded, despite the popularity of verses 11-13. As the series continues, I want to consider five things we learn about God's good plan for us from Jeremiah's letter to the exiles.
The first is this: God's good plan is for His people.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you...." Who is the "you" referred to here? He's speaking to all the exiled people of God living in Babylon—his covenant people.
God loves us as individuals and knows each of us intimately. Through Christ we have a personal relationship with Him. And yet we must never forget that when God saves us he joins us to his people, his church. We're part of his covenant community.
So we shouldn't read a passage like "I know the plans I have for you..." and only think of ourselves and our own little life-goals. We need to remember that this is a promise to God's people of whom we are a part. So it's reminder for us that we need to care about God's church.
In our culture, we all have tendency to be very independent and individualistic. And we bring that into our spiritual lives and attitude toward the church. We have to be careful. God wants us to care about his people.
Consider what your lifestyle reveals about your attitude toward the church. What would people who know you casually say about your love for the church? Are you committed, or do you just drop in when it's convenient? Which do you get more excited about—small group, or your favorite TV show? And if you've been apart of this church for years, are you continuing to cultivate a biblical perspective? Or are you just going through the motions? Do you take church for granted?
God's good plan is for his people—that means we can never think of God's purpose for us disconnected from his purpose and plan for his church.
To be continued...
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Comments (1)
Should I say, "I kissed dating the church goodbye"? But sadly enough, I also kissed church goodbye.
The last church I regularly attended I believe I did take for granted. I did not grow on my own as I should have so that I could contribute to the church's growth, but rather was quite dependant on the church to spur my growth and teach me God's Truths. I didn't seek out Truth, just ate whatever was fed to me that I believed was Truth -- which, some of it wasn't. When I left the church, I became starved for Truth and immediately read all four of the Gospels (over two days) and all of Paul's epistles.
Now I cannot find a church to attend in my area that honors God and teaches Truth, but I am hoping and praying to start a Bible study with a small group of people I keep in touch with so as to encourage each other to grow and spend time alone with God daily, as we all should -- and I am learning to. I want to share what God blesses me with in my time alone with Him with those I fellowship with.
The last time I tried to start something like this, only one person agreed and then it died because no one was hungry enough and I just turned to studying alone again.
Please pray for me to persevere, according to God's Will for this, and for the people He wants me to fellowship with to be made extremely hungry for the Truth.
As soon as I learn of God's good plans for my life, I want to share them so that others can know them. But it doesn't work out very well. Most of us are too busy with our plans for the church and ourselves to spend time finding out and realizing God's Plans for the church and us, personally.
Please pray for me that I will be a faithful and diligent witness of His Plan in all that I do.
Posted by Nicole T. | March 27, 2008 9:49 PM