READ: JEREMIAH 29:1-14; PSALMS 37:1-6; 139:1-24

Are you or someone you know graduating this year? While a graduation is a momentous occasion, what follows is the question: “What are your next steps?”

When I graduated from high school, it was the general expectation that you went to college. Being an adventurous non-planner, I left for a college that was located over twelve hours from home, not even sure what I wanted to do, but assuming I would figure it out along the way.

You might be like me, or you might be more like my son. He just finished high school with the ultimate plan. He’s interning at a tech company while setting up his own business. His life is well-planned, from his first vehicle to his finances.

Often, I wrestled with being “in God’s will.” What was He trying to tell me? What if I didn’t listen hard enough? What if I missed the grand plan He had for my life? Other people might wrestle with inviting God into their plan. What if He calls me to do something other than what I want? What if He calls me to do something or go somewhere I feel unqualified for? What if God’s five-year plan doesn’t mesh with the plan I have laid out?

If you’re wrestling with questions like these, I have good news. Whatever type of graduate you are or will be, I can tell you the best next steps you can take in your life! Before you think I’m presumptuous, or even nuts, read Jeremiah 29:11-13, emphasis on verse 13. Did you catch what God said? “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Seeking God is your best next step, and the step after that, and the one to follow.

Many people refer to Jeremiah 29:11, and the hope and future God promises us. But then they forget to include the surrounding verses, where God tells His people they are not going to be delivered from exile for a long time, but His people will seek Him and pray to Him, and He will listen and be found. It’s easy to worry about our plans and God’s will. But what is the will of God? For us to have a relationship with Him through trusting in Jesus, to know His love more and more deeply, and to be transformed to become more and more like Jesus. Every plan of our hearts, every question about our future—everything pales in comparison to seeking the one who created us and knows every intimate detail about our past, present, and future. • Savannah Coleman

• Do you tend to be more of a planner, or a non-planner? How could you be intentional about seeking God in His Word, through prayer, and with fellow Christians?

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

READ: EZEKIEL 36:16-38; PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8

Which is better: a heart of stone, or a heart of flesh? To be honest, some days I want to choose the stone. A heart of stone doesn’t feel pain, and it doesn’t have to bend to anyone else’s will. It seems strong and immovable, impervious to hardship and unchanged by anything it comes up against. But the truth is, a heart of stone is basically useless. Stone can’t pump blood or sustain life. A heart of flesh serves the body, nourishing and strengthening it with freshly oxygenated blood. A heart of stone serves nothing, nourishes nothing, and strengthens nothing.

In Ezekiel 36, God calls out Israel’s sin—their idolatry, injustice, and stubborn refusal to follow His commands. But He also promises to cleanse them of their sin. He says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (verse 25-27). In ancient Hebrew, the word translated here as heart refers to more than one’s feelings. It refers to all of one’s internal life—thoughts, feelings, desires, and decision-making. All of these take place in the heart. So having a heart of flesh doesn’t necessarily mean we have a lot of feelings—though that can certainly happen. It means our thoughts, feelings, desires, and decision-making have been cleansed and forgiven and made alive by the Holy Spirit so we can put our faith in God and place our confidence and hope in Him. Then we can be moldable, humble, teachable, and willing to let ourselves be fully shaped by God and His good ways.

Having a heart of flesh feels risky. It requires opening ourselves up to pain. Jesus knows what that’s like. Jesus, God the Son, allowed all His desires, thoughts, feelings, and decisions to be shaped completely by God the Father, even when it led to the cross. We betrayed Him, and He still kept His heart soft because of His great love for us.

Jesus will never betray me, but other people have. And when Jesus tells me to love them anyway, it helps to watch Him do it first. I can walk forward with a living, soft, obedient, easily bruised heart because I’ve seen Jesus do it. And if we know Jesus, His Spirit lives in us, and He’s given us a heart of flesh so we can respond to His love. And that is way better than any stone. • Taylor Eising

• How can looking at Jesus help us live from the heart of flesh He has given us?

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

READ: JOHN 1:1-14; COLOSSIANS 1:15-20; REVELATION 21:1-6

In my life, there are many starts and stops. I start a new hobby, and I finish a TV show. I wake up and start my workday, and I end the day by going to bed. At the start of my life, I came into being. And eventually my days on this broken earth will end.

In the last book of the Bible, Jesus calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 21:6). This name signifies the completeness of God. Alpha and Omega are actually just the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These Greek letters work like a metaphor here. It’s similar to saying you sang the alphabet from A to Z.

Jesus was there at the beginning, before time began, and He played an important role in creation. John 1:3 says that everything was made through Jesus.

Jesus is also the end of all things. He is the end to sin and suffering. Jesus ended the power of sin and death in His own death and resurrection. And Jesus will be there at the end of time to bring justice down and right the wrongs of the world.

It’s important to remember that Jesus is God the Son, and when He calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega, He is helping us better understand who He is. God does not have a beginning, or a starting point. God has always been. Similarly, God does not have an end. God is eternal, and in Jesus, we can share that eternal life in His new creation. • Naomi Zylstra

• When Jesus returns and makes all things new, everyone who has put their trust in Him will live with Him forever! As we experience the many starts and stops of life, how could it be comforting to look forward to eternal life with Jesus, when sin and brokenness will finally come to an end?

• Are you starting something new? How have you seen Jesus present with you in this new beginning? Consider spending some time in prayer, asking God to help you see how He is working in and around you.

• Endings can be sad, scary, and difficult, but Jesus is always Lord, and He rules over every beginning and every end. How can this truth give us hope when we experience endings?

This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.” Isaiah 44:6 (NLT)

READ: PSALM 27; ISAIAH 40:31; LAMENTATIONS 3:25

Waiting for things to work out can be exhausting, scary, frustrating, and stressful. Sometimes it feels like there won’t ever be an end. Sitting in the uncertainty can be the hardest because we don’t know which way things are going to go. We don’t know if they’re going to work out like we hoped—or if they’re going to work out in a way that makes our world feel like it’s crashing down around us.

But God is with us no matter what. It doesn’t matter if what you’re facing is small or large. It doesn’t matter if the thing that’s weighing on you might seem silly to someone else. God is there by your side, and He’s going to walk through it with you.

In Psalm 27, David describes how God helps us in all kinds of troubles, and he concludes by saying, “I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the LORD” (verse 13-14).

So keep seeking God. Keep trusting Him. Keep following Him, even when it doesn’t make sense, even when following God feels like it’s not making a difference. God loves you so much that Jesus died for you, and then He rose again to make the way for you to be with Him forever. He is right by your side through it all, and He’s never going to leave you on your own. Stay strong, and lean into Him, even when you don’t know what’s happening around you. Keep waiting. It’s not in vain. • Tynea Lewis

• Are you waiting to see how something works out right now? Consider taking a moment to talk to God about it. We can be totally honest about what we want and ask boldly, and we can also ask Him to help us trust Him no matter what the outcome is.

• Waiting in uncertainty can be a form of suffering. Thankfully, God has compassion on us in our distress, and He promises to work all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 5:3-5; 8:28-29; Hebrews 13:5). In the midst of uncertainty, how could it be helpful to remember that everything will ultimately work out for our good when Jesus returns—and also to remember that God will still be with us, helping us, even if what we feared most were to happen? What is something you can do while you’re waiting that brings your focus back to God?

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. Lamentations 3:25 (CSB)

READ: PSALM 115:3; EPHESIANS 1:3-10; HEBREWS 12:2

For a long time, I’ve had this nagging thought that God just loves us because He has to. He’s God, so that means He’s obligated to love us, right? But the other day, I was struck by a new thought: Why would God feel obligated to love us? Who would He feel obligated to? He’s God! And that, to me, makes the good news even better. God really doesn’t have to love us or save us…But it pleases Him to do so. Just look at what the Bible says:

Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases.” How often do we forget that God is so high above us? He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things! There is no set of rules or ethical standards that supersedes God. And no one can make God do anything. No one can pressure God into doing something He doesn’t want to do. That means, if it didn’t please God to save us, He wouldn’t have done it.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy that lay before him, he [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus is God the Son, and everything He did, He did out of love for God the Father—and for us. Jesus didn’t endure an excruciating death on a cross because anyone made Him do it. He was willing to face the cross because He knew the joy that would come because of His sacrifice. He was looking forward to the restoration His death and resurrection would bring—not just the restoration of creation at His return, but also the restoration of each person who trusts in Him. It brings Him joy to forgive our sins and bring us near to Himself!

Ephesians 1:4-6 says, “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him…according to the good pleasure of his will.” Not only does God love us and want to save us, He chose us. It was because of “the good pleasure of his will” that He chose to adopt us as His dearly loved children, to forgive all our sins, to transform us to become more and more like Jesus, and to bless us with every spiritual blessing. Even though we could never do anything to earn His love and kindness, He delights to be extravagantly generous to us—because He delights in us. • Hannah Howe

• Have you ever felt like God had to love you, even though He didn’t really like you or care about you? This is simply not true! Yet, throughout our lives, we often feel like it’s true. Consider taking some time to talk to Him about this as you read today’s Scripture.

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love… 1 John 4:16 (CSB)

READ: PSALMS 68:4-6; 139:13-18; ISAIAH 49:15; 1 JOHN 3:1

Mother’s Day is not a simple holiday for everyone. Maybe your mom is kind and caring and you have a wonderful relationship with her. If so, that’s great! Praise God! But for some, Mother’s Day comes with a lot of hurt.

Maybe you lost your mom when you were young, and you don’t celebrate Mother’s Day because you’re always reminded of your loss on that day. Or maybe you never had a good relationship with your mom. She’s not the kind and loving person most people think of when they imagine a good mom, so it doesn’t feel right to celebrate her.

Different people have different reasons why Mother’s Day is difficult for them, but whether you dread or look forward to the holiday, one thing is the same for everyone: We have a God who loves us more than any mother ever could.

We may all have different experiences when it comes to our mothers. Things may not be perfect in that relationship. But we have a God who cares for us and wants to meet our needs, like a caring mom would. We have a God who is always keeping an eye on us and who loves us more than we will ever know.

So, no matter how things are with your mom this Mother’s Day, know that you have God too. He will always love you and care for you. • Bethany Acker

• Is Mother’s Day a struggle for you or someone you know? God sees our pain, and He weeps with us. He designed the relationship between a mom and her child to be full of life and love, and it grieves His heart whenever that relationship is broken by the sin that invaded His good creation. That’s why Jesus came—He cares for us so much that He gave the ultimate expression of love. Jesus sacrificed His own life to save us and bring us near to God. And after Jesus rose from the dead, He promised that He would make all things new, including our bodies and our relationships. As we wait for this glorious day, we can know that Jesus will never leave us. He sits beside us in our hurt and frustration and longing, and He promises to help us heal. Consider taking some time to pray—you can talk to God about your own relationship with your mom, or you could pray for someone in your life who might be hurting this Mother’s Day.

• Are there any moms or mother figures in your life who’ve shown God’s love to you? Consider taking a moment to thank God for them, and maybe thank the person/people too!

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 1 John 4:16 (NIV)

READ: GALATIANS 3:13; COLOSSIANS 2:13-15; HEBREWS 12:1-3

Growing up, my siblings and I played a lot of baseball together. When I was batting, there was no better feeling than to have the bat connect with the ball. Whether the ball went flying or it was a ground ball going out in front of the plate, it just felt good to have the two connect. I remember my brothers telling me, “Keep your eye on the ball,” encouraging me as they were pitching to me. It was only by really staring at the baseball and focusing on hitting it that my bat would stand a chance of connecting with it.

As Christians, it’s important for us to keep our eye on the cross. Without all that happened on that cross, we would have nothing. If Jesus hadn’t come and lived among us, fully God and fully human, to suffer and die on the cross for our sins, we wouldn’t have salvation. We would still be dead in our sins. We wouldn’t have hope, we wouldn’t have peace.

On the days when we feel overwhelmed because of mistakes we’ve made or sins we’ve committed, we can look at the cross and remember Jesus loves us that much, and He has already provided us with forgiveness.

On the days when life on earth feels too stressful, we can keep our eye on the cross and remember that this life isn’t all that we have been given. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we will one day be raised from the dead to live with Him forever in renewed creation. And until that day, He promises to be with us, and He invites us to be part of the good work He is doing in and around us. But we can only do this good work as we rest in God’s great love—shown on the cross.

The only way you can get a hit in baseball is by watching the ball and really keeping your gaze fixed on it. As we go through life, the Holy Spirit empowers us to keep our gaze fixed on the cross and remember all that Jesus has done for us. • Emily Acker

• What are some practical ways we can take time in our everyday lives to remember Jesus’s death on the cross and His victorious resurrection?

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

READ: ROMANS 8:1, 31-39; 1 JOHN 1:8–2:2

Have you ever felt like your sin could never be forgiven? Like what you did is surely too much for God to handle? Or, even if God could forgive you, it seems like it wouldn’t be fair or right, so you think you should sit in your guilt and shame a little longer to even the scales? I think we’ve all been there. Satan loves to push us into our sin and away from God, insisting that we are too bad for Him, too gross, or too broken. But all of these are lies from the pits of hell.

The next time Satan is trying to keep you stuck in your guilt and shame, ask yourself this question: Is God just? It might seem odd, but it’s a vital question in these moments. Because, friend, if you know Jesus, it would actually be unjust for God to not forgive you.

The first time I heard my Bible professor talk about this, it blew my mind. We might think that, because God is just and He can’t tolerate sin, it would be more just for Him to leave us unforgiven. But that’s not the whole story. God loves us and wants to be with us, so He sent Jesus, whose death and resurrection paid for all of our sin. If we’ve put our trust in Him, our debt has been covered. Our punishment has been taken. So would it be just for God to make us pay a debt that’s already been paid? Would it be just for us to take a punishment that’s already been taken? We don’t deserve forgiveness. But because of what Jesus has done, if God didn’t forgive the sins of believers, He wouldn’t be just. And it’s impossible for God not to be just because He is the very definition of justice.

That’s why 1 John 1:9 says, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” God’s forgiveness of our sins is part of His justice. It can’t be removed from Him. Jesus’s sacrifice cannot be undone or forgotten. God’s forgiveness is not dependent on you or what you have done or how guilty you feel. It’s dependent on Him—His unchanging love and perfect justice, which was satisfied on the cross.

So, when you feel stuck in guilt and shame, when you feel unforgivable, don’t stare at yourself and your sin. Look up at God and His justice. Look up at Jesus and His sacrifice. God will be just and forgive. You are not the exception. You are freely forgiven and fully loved. • Taylor Eising

• Do you ever feel unforgivable? Consider spending some time talking with Jesus in prayer, confessing any sins that come to mind and resting in His sure forgiveness. In addition to talking to Jesus, who are trusted Christians in your life who can remind you that God has forgiven you?

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 (NLT)