“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 29:11 (Life Application Study Bible)
Jesus Tells Us…It’s a new year, and I have a great adventure planned for you. Come to Me with a heart that is willing to be changed. Don’t make the same mistakes you made last year. This year, try doing things My way. I know that trying something new can be frightening. But I also know you, and I understand you completely. You can trust Me to wrap you up in My Love, a love that never ends. Whether you are at home or at school, talking with your friends or doing homework, keep Me in your thoughts. Let Me guide you. I will take you on a journey that will change who you are and how you see the world and the people around you.
Jesus Concludes…Yes, I have great plans for you, and I will be with you every step of the way!
Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 12:2; Study Notes
Footnotes Jeremiah 29:11 Everyone is encouraged by leaders who stir us to move ahead, who believes we can do the tasks they have given us to move ahead, who believe we can do the tasks they have given us, and who will be with us all the way. God was that kind of leader for these captives and is also that kind of leader for us. He knows the future, and his plans for us are good and full of hope. As long as God, who knows the future, directs our agendas and goes with us as we fulfill his mission, we can have boundless hope. This does not mean that we will be spared pain, suffering, or hardship. That is a guaranteed part of life in this sinful world. But it does mean that God will see us through to a glorious conclusion.
Passage Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Footnotes Romans 12:2 Paul warned Christians about following the selfish and corrupt pattern of this fallen world. Many Christians wisely decide that a large portion of the world’s behavior is off-limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs, it must be firmly planted in the values rooted in our minds: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It is possible, however, to avoid most worldly customs and still be proud, covetous, selfish, stubborn, and arrogant. Only when the Holy Spirit renews, reeducates, and redirects our minds are we truly transformed.
Footnotes Romans 12:3 Healthy self-esteem is important because some of us think too little of ourselves; on the other hand, some of us overestimate ourselves. Honest and accurate self-evaluation comes by knowing the basis of our self-worth—our identity in Christ. Apart from him, we aren’t capable of very much by eternal standards; in him, we are valuable and capable of worthy service. Evaluating yourself by the worldly standards of success and achievement can cause you to think too much about your worth in the eyes of others and thus miss your true value in God’s eyes.
Jesus Tells Us is from the Jesus Calling 365 devotions for kids.
THE WORLD…we see history
In the Word and the World, we see His Story. Albert Einstein
That he was one of the preeminent intellects in recorded history goes almost without saying, if a person is called “an Einstein” today, he or she is said to be among the most brilliant of the brilliant. That Einstein’s discoveries and philosophies were at the very heart of the 20th century’s largest issues is also a given. This is what led Time magazine to name him Person of the Century as the hundred-year-span- which had included Roosevelt and Churchill, Gandhi and King-drew to its close. That any of this could have been predicted for a theoretical physicist who would stick to the chalkboard his whole life is impossible. Einstein did not in fact develop the atomic bomb, and thus defeat Japan, nor did he himself order the universe. But in the practical estimations of modern man, he might as well have. He was born in Germany, and his genius was on display early. He postulated photons in 1905, and explained the photoelectric effect, he set forth his special theory of relativity in that same “miracle year.” In 1911 he asserted the equivalence of gravity and Inertia, within a half-decade he completed the mathematical formulation of his general theory of relativity. Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The WORD…we see Jesus, His Story!
Such a mind as his would have been if immeasurable use to Nazi Germany, but this was not to be. A Jew, Einstein left his homeland in 1932 for Princeton, New Jersey, and in 1940 became an American Citizen, a year after he, persuaded by physicists Leo Slizard and Edward Teller, petitioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt to beat Germany to the atomic bomb. (a petition that produced no immediate effect, but was a factor leading, eventually, to the Manhattan Project). In his last years, Einstein, whose breakthroughs in mathematics and physics had made so much possible, became an ever more “militant’ pacifist. He had seen what was possible and he was appalled.
Source: https://www.life.com/history/lifes-100-people-who-changed-the-world/ Page 125