You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13)

“IF YOUR FRIENDS jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?” As a teen, I remember hearing this lecture from my mother. It followed the fact that I had done something stupid with my friends. The truth is I would not jump off a bridge to follow my friends, but the point was always the same. I was settling for something less than what God had in store for me. Jeremiah proclaimed that God has plans for our lives. Not only “plans to prosper . . . not to harm you,” but also “plans to give you hope and a future.”

How often do we miss out on God’s plans because we settle for something else? It is easy to get caught in the trap of fulfilling our own desires with worldly things. We seek meaning and purpose in our profession, relationships, and materialistic things. But the joy and satisfaction they may bring is short lived. We may not “jump off a bridge,” but we go all-in pursuing happiness with things of this world only to be held captive to a longing this world cannot fulfill. God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What if you went all-in seeking God? He promises that you will indeed find Him and He will “bring you back from captivity.”

In which areas of your life are you settling? Seek God with your whole heart.

Scott Simmons is the author of iFollow: Connecting Belief and Behavior to Who You Are in Christ (WPH) and the youth ministry movement director for The Wesleyan Church.