Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23

Have you noticed that if something is important, you guard it? If you have a wallet, you don’t leave it out where anyone can take it. If you cross the street, you look both ways to be sure no cars are coming. We spend lots of effort each day keeping our bodies and possessions safe.

In today’s verse, we’re encouraged to guard our hearts above all else. That means that we should make it a priority. We should make guarding our heart important. Just like we would guard our wallet or another important possession, we should guard our heart.

However, when it comes to our heart, many times we throw caution to the wind. We don’t pay attention to the people we date or the friendships we make. We should be taking care of our heart and making it a priority also.

If you haven’t, choose to put some effort into guarding your heart. Don’t just date any person that comes your way. Be selective and take any necessary precautions to guard your heart.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. – Psalm 46:1 (ESV)

Have you ever been trying to tell a friend something and they were on their phone? And instead of paying attention to you their attention was focused on their phone and they didn’t hear a word you said? It can make you feel really bad when you need a friend to listen and your friend isn’t mentally present in the conversation.

God isn’t like people you know that get distracted and don’t listen. Instead, He is present and attentive when you face difficulty. He is there ready to be your refuge and strength and to help you through whatever you’re facing.

Even if you’re in the midst of something really difficult, don’t stop. Keep pressing through knowing that God is there to help and strengthen you.

Honour thy father and thy mother’; and ‘Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself.'” – Matthew 19:19 (WNT)

Have you noticed how easy it is to love your friends? It’s a lot easier to love people that you really respect. How about your parents? That’s harder. Sometimes even harder yet, is loving others as much as yourself.

It’s easy to love ourselves. We always understand that we mean well. It seems that we can always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. But do we give others the same treatment?

Do we give others the benefit of the doubt? Can we let other people have a bad day? Or do we judge them based on what we see externally?

If we’re really going to love others, it’s going to take some work. It’s going to take us looking internally and making adjustments to see the good in others around us. Yet, that’s what God does for us. He sees our potential.

God loves us unconditionally. And that love should empower us to love those around us. Not because they treat us right or do the things we feel are right, but because of how much God loves us.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” – John 4:9 (NLT)

Jesus was always breaking down barriers. He crossed cultural lines and went out of His way to love others.

In today’s Bible verse, we see the story of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman. He surprised her by His love for her and how he went out of His way to talk to her and help her.

Jesus has always crossed lines and gone out of His way to love those who were hurting. He loves those who society overlooks.

As Christians, we should be doing the same. We should be going out of our way to love those around us who have been overlooked and unheard. We should be striving to love those around us, not because of what society says but because of who we serve.

Jesus always values people. Regardless of background. He broke down barriers and loved people all around Him.

So today, challenge yourself to look for someone hurting around you. Then ask God how you can be part of the solution. Ask God to show you how you can love those around you and show the world God’s love.

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. – Genesis 2:7 (ESV)

God created people. He loves people. They have so much value to Him, and He loves and treasures each person and sees their potential and value when He looks at them.

God created people. That means people have value to Him.

Today’s Truth: People have value because they were created by God and for a relationship with God.

To treat someone less than God’s best is wrong. The truth is we have all been bought with a price. We all deserved hell but got God’s grace. And because we’ve been forgiven much, it should empower us to love others.

So today, remember you have great value to God. Know that you are created by God for a relationship with Him. Don’t believe a lie that you’re anything less than God’s best.

Also, choose to treat others in light of what God has done for you. Determine to not judge others unfairly because of how they look but instead see their value because of how much they’re worth to God.

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. – 1 Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

As a teenager, it can be really easy to get discouraged by the things you see going on in the world. You might see others being treated unfairly and wonder why is this happening. There might even be times when you feel hopeless.

It’s true, there are lots of things that are not right in the world.

However, instead of getting discouraged, consider asking God how you can be part of the solution.

Ask God to show you how you can be an example to others. Ask God for an idea of how you can begin producing the change you want to see in the world.

God has called you to do something great for Him. So don’t be afraid. Ask God for His wisdom and step out and do what He is calling you to do.

Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. – James 1:8 (NLT)

I remember a time when I wanted to make my teacher happy, but also wanted to make my friends happy too. I decided to write some bad things about one of the other students on a paper.

Of course, the teacher found the paper, and realized that I had written it. I got in trouble for doing it. And while I made my friends happy and had them laughing about what I had written, my teacher was disappointed in me.

I realized that I couldn’t successfully please two groups of people. I couldn’t make both my teacher and my friends happy at the same time.

That’s a lot like what today’s verse talks about. It shows us that we can’t live our lives and successfully make God and the world happy. It just won’t happen. We can’t live for two things at the same time.

Trying to do that will make you unstable and unhappy in the long run. So instead of trying to live for two different things, choose instead what you’re going to live for. Will you live for God? Or the things of the world?

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:4 (NIV)

If we’re honest, we probably try to do whatever we can to avoid trials. They aren’t fun, and we’d never go through them if we had the choice.

As bad as trials sometimes seem, they can often be for our good. It’s often during uncertainty and difficulty that we really learn to fully trust in God.

Our world has been faced with difficulty lately. The pandemic has made us all unsure and searching for answers. The good news is that these difficulties we face can help us develop character, good attitudes, and draw us closer to God.

So if you’ve been upset lately because of the things you see going on in the world around you, take comfort. God loves you, He cares for you, and if you’ll get close to Him in these times, He will help you grow.

So today, choose to get close to God. Let Him develop character, good attitude and patience in you.

If you’d like to learn more about patience in difficulty, we’ve got a great 5-day PDF devotion for you to download. It will help you grow in patience during these times.