Insights

So often we quote or hear quoted the words in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” It is a comforting verse, confirming that God is for us. He wants good for us and not evil. There is hope in our future! Unfortunately, we tend to ignore the context in which it was written. The prophet Jeremiah is speaking of the Isrealites who have been carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. His first instruction to them is to settle in. “Build houses, dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.” It’s going to be a while. They are captives in enemy territory but God instructs them to seek peace and live productive lives. (Jeremiah 29: 5-7)

We too live in enemy territory and we too have hope for the future. One day we will experience a new Kingdom where all things will be made right, the Kingdom in which our true citizenship rests. Today we are called to live excellently by seeking peace, growing deep roots and bearing good fruit in the world so often broken around us.

On November 8, 2024, I had the great joy of meeting my first grandchild, Jude Shepherd Slater. As I marveled at all that is currently him, I considered his life to come. My prayer is that he will receive the new heart of Ezekiel 36:26, that he will increase in wisdom, and favor with God and man, Luke 2:52, and that he will be rooted and grounded in love, filled with the fullness of God, Ephesians 3:17 - 19. Through his life, I know that there will be joys and sorrows for both he and his parents. He will experience great victories and moments of defeat. Through it all, I hope that he will know true peace.

True peace is not based on our circumstances. It is based on the excellent promises of our Lord, a Lord whose thoughts toward us are good, whose intentions are to one day usher us into a place of perfection. In the meantime, let us heed the words of Jeremiah 29:28b, “This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.” May you fully embrace what is before you today and live peacefully in the place where God has planted you. Let us take root downward and bear fruit upward, living lives of peace and excellence.

Tammy McIlvoy
Head of School
Logos Preparatory Academy