There isn’t one of us who hasn’t asked that question at one time or another. It comes from good intentions: to be a faithful follower of God. But what if that question is coming from the wrong direction—upside down and inside out?

This morning we hear the beginning of the story of Jeremiah the prophet. God tells him, “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart.”

Yet, his purpose was to be found not within him, but around him.