In church yesterday, one of the elders(?) got up to speak about plans for the future of the church and some of the things regarding costs and fundraising and whatnot. In it, he quoted Jeremiah 29:11, which is quoted roughly anytime ever that someone needs to be reassured about the future. I like the verse, I really do, but I really wish it would be put in better context. Namely, I wish people would stop ignoring Jeremiah 29:10, "When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place..." Jeremiah 29:11 should not be used as an encouragement that everything will be okay if you can just wait out the current sufferings. Yes, things will get better, but maybe not for you. God never promised that good things will happen to good people on this Earth. This post now sounds depressing, but I swear I didn't mean it to be that way.
On a happier note, I'll mention the other verse I wish people would stop forgetting which is I Corinthians 12:31b. This is much more forgivable as everyone know I Corinthians 13 is the love chapter, but I wish everyone would start quoting it with 12:31b which I actually referenced as 13:0 when I did scripture memorization. The half-verse is "And now I will show you the most excellent way." This is something people need to realize. Yes, noone actually thinks that love is a bad thing and what not, but this is that needed reinforcement that love is the first and foremost goal when interacting with others.
Going through these thoughts yesterday was a good reminder than I need to get back into scripture memory. I've still got my list from URC from 2012 of the one scripture verse to do each week. I've fallen behind badly on it, only having the first six weeks done. I need to be much more intentional about spending time on it and I'll try to catch back up over the summer.
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