I’ve been reading through Jeremiah and it appears someone else has too. His a friend of mine and a wonderful leader. So this is his blog and you can follow Jeff Galley’s blog here and the blog is below:

Read Jeremiah 29:1-14. To relate to this passage you have to remember that the way Babylon was running the show (they were controlling Israel against their will) was completely at odds with the principles of living that Israel held to as important. Sound familiar? Like…our society? Speaking for myself, I think the predominant ideas the define our culture are at odds with what I believe to be truth.

So I can identify with Israel’s situation. But that’s not the important take-away from this passage. What is of value to me is Jeremiah’s suggestion to Israel on how to live in the midst of a society that is moving away from truth. He urges them to do five things (these are put into my own words):

• Make yourself at home
• Build communities
• Create healthy families
• Work and pray for society’s well being
• Ignore religious know-it-alls

God definitely had a plan to redeem the situation and make it something good (verses 10-14), but Jeremiah sure didn’t want Israel to take a passive role and sit around waiting for that better day to happen - that’s just lazy. Their part was active and positive: settle in, make a life, and be a positive contributor to the culture! In fact, I think it’s possible that God’s promise to restore society to wholeness was contingent on Israel’s participation in the process.

In your opinion, what does all of this mean to a follower of Christ in the post-modern western world?

I have my own views but I would love to hear some thoughts on my blog as well. What do you think?

Categories: Thoughts, faith