Faith in Action

Jeremiah 32:8
(8) Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

Jeremiah did something that seemed insane. He bought a field just before Jerusalem was to be besieged, captured, and burned. I don't know much about real estate, but I do know that this is a bad idea on the surface. If I knew a hurricane was about to hit South Florida I wouldn't go out and buy a big tract of land and develop on it. I would wait until it lost its value after the hurricane.

As with so many other things, there was symbolism to this purchase. By leading Jeremiah to purchase this property God showed that He would be faithful to the new covenant He made. Good times would return to Jerusalem one day. However, this took right perspective from Jeremiah to make this decision.

How are you living your life? Are you basing all your decisions on the temporal or do you have an eye to the future? Are you looking forward to the day when the world is consumed and we get to enjoy eternity with Christ, or are you living just for today? I'm all for Dave Ramsey, but all he can do is help us prepare our finances for our eventual retirement. If we are followers of Christ we have an eternal reward waiting for us that makes everything in this world pale in comparison.

This is not a call to asceticism, but to perspective. What hope do you have?