Through grace God is with us--He PROMISED!

"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." Jeremiah 29: 11-14 (NRSV)

I have been thinking about eternity. Each day, and each moment that we exist, our minds are pondering, worrying, and problem solving. Our thoughts are the biggest portion of the activity of our lives, and they are what make us human. Moreover, our ability to think about eternity is our unique characteristic.

Although Jeremiah's letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylonia was written thousands of years ago, his message is for us today. In the present day, we live away from our eternal home. God's plan for us is really very simple, and yet its expansiveness encompasses time and eternity. God's desire is for us to dwell with Him in eternity, and His plans for us are designed to achieve that goal. The scope of God's plan is expansive, but the execution of His plan involves our individual lives. God plans to usher each one of us individually into eternal prosperity. God loves us so much that He sent His own son, Jesus the Christ, to die for each one of us so that we can obtain an eternally prosperous life. He then promised us that He would be with us, now and forever.

Whatever the problems are that we face (and the word "problems" is always plural), we can claim this promise: God is with us. He promised. We must claim the promise and know that God will never back down on His word.