This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:10-11 NIV

Last month I attended the Sojourn Network Conference in Louisville, KY, and I was challenged by so many gifted speakers. While several of the talks are still in my head, I keep coming back to one in particular by Jamaal Williams, lead pastor at Sojourn Midtown, who encouraged us to “unpack our bags” in our ministry endeavors.

It’s a simple theme, but if I’m honest, I have not done well with unpacking the bags of my life. I have a restless heart, and I’m guilty of looking for the place where the grass is greener. The irony, of course, is that Christ--not our circumstances or job or relationship--provides that grass and the rest that comes with it. In Psalm 23, we are reminded that “He makes me lie down in green pastures . . . he refreshes my soul.”

Take note: The Good Shepherd does not “invite” us to lie down--he makes us lie down. And it’s this whisper from the Lord that I have to listen to more often, not the siren call of our culture which lures me to self-gratification. My world can become so me-centered that I can forget whom I should be pointing others to. Throughout the Bible runs a recurring theme of rootedness in a place, a home, and a people; this theme has so much beauty that it’s easy for me to forget that the place, the home, and the people of the Old Testament are pointing to the One to Come.

Read the full devotion at https://devotableapp.com/daily-devotion-jeremiah-29-10-11-unpack-your-bags