Mug of hope

     I recently bought a mug that many Christians wouldn't buy. I was browsing on Christianbook.com looking at the sales, and there it was for $3.99. A mug with THAT verse on, the verse so many people like to say doesn't apply to us, that we are using it wrong, etc. And it even came in a nice little box with the same verse on it.... I had to buy it.

    I have blogged about this verse before, but people from the opposing viewpoint keep bringing it up, so why can't I?

   The verse in question? Jeremiah 29:11 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."

  I need hope. I need assurance that God is on my side and has my back..... and this verse is a reassurance of that.....so how can any Christian have an issue with that?

 Look at the verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you".....does God know the plans He has for me, or was that only  the Israelites who He knew the plans He had for? Of course He knows the plans He has for me.

"They are plans for good and not for disaster". Serving God doesn't mean we will never have problems, but I do believe God works good out of whatever comes my way.

"To give you a future and a hope". I believe God wants Christians to have hope, and that He has a future for me, whatever it holds.

 And the couple of following verses have also been a source of hope and encouragement to me:

12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

   I take serious issue with these naysayers who are constantly bringing up this verse and saying it doesn't apply to we modern day Christians. The older I get, and the further I go on this road I am traveling, the more convinced I am that we can find hope and encouragement all through the Bible. I am more convinced than ever that we need hope and encouragement. If I and many others find hope and encouragement in this verse, what right does anyone have to tell us the verse doesn't apply to us?

  I, Mark Buzard, was a captive.... not in some foreign land, but still a captive. God listened when I prayed and ended my captivity. I do have a future and a hope, and God is prospering me in the ways and areas that matter..... not financially, but spiritually and emotionally.

 So ignore that verse, skip over it, even cut it out of your Bible if you so desire..... but don't try to take away the hope and encouragement it gives me and many others.

 Now excuse me as I go drink some tea out of my mug of hope.......