But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 (NLT)

I was unnoticed in school. I was insecure and rather than saying the wrong thing and getting made fun of, I chose not to talk. Day after day, I hoped that someone would talk to me and want to be my friend. Day after day, I stressed out because again and again I’d have to sit at a lunch table with no one that wanted me to be there.

After awhile, I began to believe there was something wrong with me. No one talked to me. No one even acted like I existed. I began to think my life didn’t really matter.

And then one day, I began to realize my value to God. I realized that what others thought of me wasn’t the opinion that really mattered. What mattered was my value to God.

I was worth so much to God. He loved me and knew everything about me. I began to develop a deep relationship with God. I realized that my worth was found in Him, not in what others thought about me.

The same is true for you. You matter. Your life has purpose and value. Don’t be lied to that because of how your friends treat you, you’re not important. Friends can be fickle, but God is always faithful.

Reach out to God and spend time letting Him show you your true value and worth.

I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No SLOPPY living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself” – 1 Corinthians 9:26 (Message)

I ran cross country when I was in middle school. I wasn’t that good of a runner, but a few of my friends went out for it, so I decided to go out too. During practice, I remember my coach always strategizing with us. One of the things he always stressed to us was finishing strong. He wanted us to run as fast as we could to the finish line.

This was hard for me. By the time the race was almost over, running harder and faster was the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to go slower, give up, or take a break.

Today’s Truth: Don’t Give Up, Finish Strong

In the same way, in life you should be finishing strong in every area of your life. Whether it’s doing chores at your house, working on homework, or in any other area.

Today’s Bible verse talks about finishing strong. In life, it takes character to finish strong. You may want to give up when things get hard, but today’s verse challenges us to do the opposite. Instead of quitting when things get tough, we are challenged to keep running hard. This is difficult to do when you’re tired, frustrated, and just want to give up. However, true character is pushing past what seems difficult. Its when you push past what is comfortable that you really see great results.

How do you feel right now? Are things at school overwhelming? Do you feel overloaded and upset? Maybe the pressures at home just feel too much. Here’s the truth, even though things might be hard right now, as Children of God, He doesn’t want us to live our lives discouraged and upset. Instead, God has come to give you hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13 (NIV)

God wants you to have hope, and not just a little hope, but hope that is overflowing. Many times, it’s easier though to look at how wrong everything feels right now.

The truth is, if you look to Jesus, spend time in the Word, you’ll begin to get hope. To be filled with hope, you have to turn away from what you’re seeing in the world around you, and turn to Jesus.

Practically speaking, it might mean turning off your TV before bed and spending time reading your Bible and praying. It might mean saying no to chatting with friends that cause you to fear and be upset.

God wants you to be at peace, but you might have to make a few adjustments to get there. However, it’s worth it. Living a life at peace is always a good thing.

Pray: Jesus, I love you. I purpose today to walk in your hope and peace. I choose to set aside time to spend reading the Bible and get to know you better today. In your name, I pray, Amen.

Do you look to others for approval? I know I certainly have been guilty of that. I’ve wanted the approval of other people so bad, I’ve given in to peer pressure, made bad decisions, and many other things hoping to have other people like me.

What I discovered was this, when I lived to please other people, I wasn’t really making better friends. I couldn’t keep everyone happy at the same time, and when I tried, I was exhausted and stressed out. I realized that God describes a better way in today’s Bible verse.

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. – 1 Thess 2:4 (NLT)

If we make pleasing God, rather than people our purpose, we will be less stressed out. God is who we should be living to please. When we make living for God and knowing Him our goal, it will bring much more happiness than we could ever find living our lives to please others.

So today, choose to get to know God. Make pleasing Him your goal in everything you do. As you choose this, you’ll be less stressed out and more fulfilled than living to please others.

Today’s Truth: Live to Please God, not people.

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to want what others have? Maybe it’s to have a relationship, or perhaps you want the life that you see someone else living. Whatever it is, it’s easy to see what others have and want those things for yourself.

The people of Israel were no different. They too wanted what they saw others having. They compared themselves to other nations and decided they wanted a king.

Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” – 1 Samuel 8:20 (NIV)

Having a king wasn’t God’s best for Israel. God wanted to be their king. He wanted them to have something better, to be led by Him. However, Israel convinced themselves that they needed a king.

Just like Israel, it’s easy to want the things we see others have. In fact, we can want those things so much that it causes us unhappiness. Just like in the time of Israel, God wants to be your fulfillment. He wants to bring you the fulfillment that no person or thing can bring.

So today, determine to let God be your fulfillment. Choose to find contentment in Him. Don’t wish for the things others have, instead simply fill your time with getting to know God better. As you seek Him, you’ll be more fulfilled and find a lasting relationship in Him.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Making friends is hard sometimes, isn’t it? I remember when I was in high school and how much I craved the approval of others. It caused me to only talk to certain people and not others. It affected the clothes I wore, the music I listened to, and the way I talked.

It’s often easy to get our value from how others see us. If someone likes us we feel good about ourselves. When they don’t we feel like we have no value.

The truth is, not everyone is going to like you. Not every person is going to be your friend. Even if not everyone has recognized your greatness doesn’t mean that God hasn’t.

God sees you differently than the way others see you. God sees you through Jesus. He sees your purpose and potential. When others don’t place value on you, God says that you’re a masterpiece. He loves you and sees the best in you!

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. – Romans 5:20 (NLT)

Do you wish that you could automatically get good grades in school? Like you didn’t have to study at all, simply show up and boom, you had all A’s. Wouldn’t that be nice?

When it comes to grades, what you do matters. The more you study, the better your grades are. In school, your work matters. The harder you work, the better you’ll do.

However, with God, that wasn’t the case. There was nothing that you could do to ever make yourself right with God. No amount of good works, following God’s rules, or doing the right thing would ever mean heaven for you.

Instead, what you needed was God’s grace found through His son Jesus. Jesus bridged the gap between God’s righteousness and our sin. He made it possible for us to know the true God. That’s great news for us. We can live our lives free and full knowing that God’s grace is enough!

Pray: God, thank you for your wonderful grace. Thank you for making us right with you. I choose to walk today in the freedom you provided for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” – John 13:35 (NLT)

Relationships with other people can be really complicated sometimes. How often have you had a friend not do what you wanted them to do? Or maybe a teacher isn’t treating you fairly and you feel really mad and upset.

Dealing with other people can be really hard. Especially when you’d just love to yell and give that person a piece of your mind.

Relationships with others aren’t easy, but today’s verse gives us some help. In the verse, we are encouraged to respond to others with love. That doesn’t always mean that we’re not going to tell others how we feel, but we can do it with a heart of love.

When we still are loving to those around us, we show the world that we are disciples.

So today, if you’ve struggled with your relationships with others, ask God for help. He can show you creative ways to deal with difficult relationships in love. God’s there to walk with you, so let Him. He wants to lead and guide you in every situation you face!