Can you remember back to your first day of class? That was probably a long time ago. But a lot of the time, on your first day of class, you get some sort of a syllabus. That document helps you know what’s expected of you for the class, and also when many of the major assignments are due.

When it comes to the things of God, we have a document too. It’s the Bible. And in it we can see ways that God wants us to live our lives and learn many great things.

One of the things that we see taught in the Bible is relationship with God. Over and over again, we see verses that speak of spending time with God. We see people who spent time in prayer and God’s Prescence. Often, we can see that when a culture or person reads the Bible or scriptures, they are wise, and prosperous.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. – John 15:7

In today’s verse, we see that it talks about remaining in God. When we remain in His Prescence, we learn about Him. We learn who He is. And in those times we spend with Him, we begin to see God’s nature and character.

So no matter how busy you get, no matter how successful you are, life is really meant to be spent remaining in God. So determine to get to know Him. Determine to know who He is and what He has for you. As you do, you’ll find purpose, meaning and contentment in Him.

Today’s Truth: It’s all about spending time with God.

We all understand that good diet help us to become physically strong. Most of us wouldn’t consider not eating every day because we feel so weak when we don’t eat and can’t perform very well. And then we understand that if we don’t exercise we just get fat and muscles get flabby.

In the same way- you are more than just a body and a mind. You also have a spirit to feed- and it eats God’s Word. It too needs to be fed daily to be strong. But simply reading God’s Word isn’t enough to be strong either.

You exercise your spirit as you pray and obey the things the Word of God says to do. For example forgiving others who hurt you or loving and praying.

1Timothy 4:8 in The Message Bible states “Exercise daily in God- no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.”

A disciplined spiritual life feeds on God’s Word then exercises what it hears. The rewards for working out in a gym are a toned body. The rewards of godly living are both in this life and in the life to come. God always rewards when we come to Him. The rewards can be direction or wisdom or peace or joy. When you are spiritually in shape, you will draw people to Jesus. And that is definitely an eternal reward!

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ – Matthew 4:4

I love food. There are very few reasons that I miss a meal. When I do, I get really grumpy and angry. And, I’d guess that most of us put a high priority on eating. We make sure that we eat several times a day, hit those snacks between classes, and maybe even eat some junk food before bed. Eating is a big part of our lives. If we didn’t eat, we’d be grumpy, lack energy, and just be no fun to be around.

In today’s Bible verse, it compares natural food, or bread to spiritual food. It tells us that we shouldn’t just live to eat, but rather we should live to spend time with God. It shows us that our time with God should be a priority in our lives. Just like we wouldn’t go too long without eating, we shouldn’t go long without spending time with God.

Today’s Truth: Don’t go too long without spending time with God.

If you’ve noticed that it’s been awhile since you spent some time in the Bible, challenge yourself today to take more time to spend with God. You can let the Bible App read it to you while you do your homework, or first thing when you get up in the morning. You could get your copy of the Bible out and read in before bed. Whatever seems to work best for you. The goal is to simply make spending time with God a priority in your life today!

Imagine this: You’re out for the school band. You’ve practiced your instrument, tried your hardest, and now it’s the moment of truth. Will you be chosen for an honor band? Let’s say that you’re pretty sure you’ll make it. And so you feel confident that nothing is going to keep you from being chosen.

The results are out. You go check the paper on the wall in the band room, and guess what….you didn’t get it. You can’t believe it. All that practice feels like was worthless. What do you do now?

You’ve probably faced a similar situation to this. What do you do when you put so much effort and energy into something, only to find out that it was for nothing? It’s easy to begin to get down on yourself and question your worth.

One thing to remember in situations like these is that your worth is not based in your achievements. Whether you do great at band, or you’re the worst player in the history of all instrument playing, it doesn’t matter. Why?

Because worrying about living your life for yourself, and to make yourself feel good isn’t the point of life. The point of life as Christians should be knowing Jesus and becoming more like Him. He should be where you find purpose and identity. So if you struggle with feeling not that good about yourself or your achievements, ask yourself who you’re living your life for? Is it for God and pleasing Him or is it to win awards, achievements and acknowledgement from others.

and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

When you come to the end of your life, it won’t matter what awards you won, what bands you made or didn’t make. What will matter is what you did with Jesus and if you spent your life in pursuit of Him.

What happens when you don’t do well for a grade at school? Do you shift the blame off yourself and onto someone or something else? It can be easy to want to do that. When you don’t get the grade you feel you deserve, it can be easy to want to defend yourself.

You might try to speak up and out to get attention and let everyone know why the grade you got was unfair. Now, it’s true, there might be a group project you worked on where someone didn’t do their part, and the grade you got was not fair. But for the most part, if you’ve got a good teacher, your grades reflect you and the work you did. (Or didn’t do)

Shifting the blame to someone else isn’t healthy. In fact, it’s a form of pride. Pride in our lives often shows up as needing to defend ourselves. We feel the need for justice, and so we go out of our way to let everyone know our situation.

To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
    I hate pride and arrogance,
    evil behavior and perverse speech. – Proverbs 8:13 (NIV)

Pride isn’t a good trait. When it comes down to it, pride lifts up our own interests and needs over those of others. It says I’m right and someone else is wrong. It often ignores the feelings and thoughts of others and of God.

God doesn’t want pride to become a part of our lives because of what it does to our heart and our relationship with Him. Pride will keep us from following God and His word. When run to the ultimate end, most sin begins with pride and thinking we know better than God.

So today, examine your heart. See if you’ve allowed pride to become a habit. If you have, just ask God for His help. He can show you what to change and what to do to not let pride rule your life today.