For Our Graduates: AS YOU START the NEXT Chapter of Your LIFE

With the kind of start to the next chapter of your life that we’re experiencing right now, you shouldn’t be surprised when the plans you make in the future run into a glitch. We are living within a big glitch! To some of you, it may not seem like a big deal, but this global pandemic is unique from a historical sense in that humankind is fighting for survival. It’s a world-wide threat! History hasn’t seen anything like it!

But we will make it. We don’t need to be too worried. Science and medicine will be a big help. But understand that science has its limitations. We are fragile human beings. The coronavirus has proven that to us. (We’ve already lost more American lives to the coronavirus in the past 2-3
months than we did throughout the Vietnam War that ended just over 50 years ago.)

God is calling us to faith in days like this. And as you are being called to faith, many of you who continue your studies will be challenged about the Christian faith in university settings all across the country. So let me offer two separate verses from God that can offer perspective:

1. In Proverbs 3:5-6 the Bible says,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

This helps define one of the Key Lessons from the Bible: Faith! God beckons us to trust in Him. We cannot possibly understand everything about the circumstances in history; the cause-and-effects of everything around us. We can’t possibly understand why some people excel and others falter; why some suffer tragedy and others prosperity. It won’t make sense to our rational minds. But it doesn’t have to. It’s too much to “rely on your own insight.” God is present to always do good for those who seek to please Him. The world is too big for us to overcome with our limited abilities. So trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made a way for you that will bring you to share in His reward!

2. God spoke through His prophet, His spokesman, in Jeremiah 29:13 – When you search for Me, you will find Me; if you seek Me with all your heart... God isn’t playing hide-and-seek from anyone! He wants a relationship with you. He wants you to feel confident in His love, trusting Him to reveal a way through the world with His grace and kindness and love. That’s a big deal, because the world tempts you with so many diversions that can deceive you and leave you feeling like a fool.

It was after I graduated from High School, as a Sophomore in college that I really understood the love God had for me; a love that was revealed through His suffering, His beating, and His cruel death on a cross. If you haven’t yet really searched for Him, I mean really found your place in
Him, then you haven’t yet completed the expedition of discovery! Take time for the most important relationship you will ever have – Be concerned about God’s kingdom and what has His approval. Then all these things will be provided for you. – Matthew 6:33 (GW)

​-Pastor Kevin