I wanted people to like me so bad. So many times, I’d do or say whatever it would take to get people to laugh and think I was funny. It didn’t matter if I hurt someone’s feelings, I just wanted to make others like me. It’s easy to crave validation from others.

There was a guy like that in the Bible. His name was Naaman. (You can read the full account in 2 Kings 5)

 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. – 2 Kings 5:11 (NIV)

Naaman wanted to be treated special. He was looking for validation from people, rather than looking to God for His answer. You can see this when he went to the king for help rather than to the prophet of God.

God wasn’t interested in what Naaman could do or what He’d done. God wanted His heart. He wanted Naaman to love Him and to humble himself. Once Naaman did that, He got the healing He was looking for.

The same can be true for us too. We can want to look to people for approval and validation. However, what we should be doing is humbling ourselves and looking to God. God is the one who will give us our value and who approves us. His approval is the one that should matter to us!

Today’s Truth: Get your validation from God

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18 (NLT)

Have you ever not wanted any correction from your parents? I can recall times that I simply wished my parents would just stop correcting my behavior all the time. I’m sure you’ve probably felt like this at some point. But what I was really experiencing in these moments when I didn’t want correction was pride. I didn’t want anyone to tell me what to do or how to live.

In life we can sometimes get that way with God. We can begin to forget who God is, and how much He loves us and begin to think that all he’s doing is correcting us. We can begin to believe the lie that independence from God is a good thing.

The truth is, we really do need God. We need His guidance each and every day of our lives. The problem is, it’s humbling to admit that. It takes humility to admit that you don’t have it all together, or know all the answers. It’s not always easy to submit to God’s leading in our lives.

It can be easier to want to choose to walk your own path. Make your own choices, and do things in your own strength. However, true happiness comes from giving up control and thinking you’ve got this, and instead looking to God.

So today, determine to humble yourself. If you’ve been guilty of ignoring God and His leading in your life, determine to change. Decide today to let Him lead, and submit your thoughts, desires and emotions to Him, and choose His path for your life.

Today’s Truth: We need God.

In middle school, there was a girl that always thought she was right. It was so much so, that she often would argue to prove how right she was. Sometimes, it was a little funny because what she was saying was incorrect some of the time. Maybe you’ve experienced someone like that. A person who always thinks they’re right, even if they’re not.

A person that is unwilling to be corrected usually deals with a lot of pride. Pride is defined as satisfaction in oneself. (Merriam Webster). If we put all our confidence in ourselves, and in what we can do in our own strength, then we aren’t relying on God.

And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” – James 4:6 (NIV)

Pride isn’t a trait that God likes. Proud people are unwilling to be corrected. They also don’t want to submit their lives to God and the Bible. That isn’t a good way to live. Pride doesn’t lead to good things.

If we’re going to be people that live for God, we’ve got to determine to not let pride run our lives. Instead, we should humble ourselves and let God lead in our life. We have to submit our desires and plans to God and the Bible, and let Him lead.

Today’s Truth: Let God Lead in Your Life

So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. – Colossians 2:10 (NLT)

Do you hate things about yourself? Do you wish you were more outgoing? Or that you did better at sports? If we’re honest, we all have things we wish that were different about ourselves.

It’s easy to look at ourselves and see all the things that are wrong. However, if we always focus on the bad stuff about us, we will always be unhappy.

Instead of focusing on all the things that are wrong with yourself, instead, focus on the fact that you’ve been made complete in Jesus. Jesus has dealt with your sin on the cross. So in God’s eyes, you’re complete in Him.

Today’s Challenge: Learn to Live With Imperfection

You are not perfect, and you will never be perfect. However, you can learn to live with your imperfection. You can choose to focus on what Jesus says about you instead of getting upset about all the things that are imperfect about yourself.

So today choose to focus on God’s love for you. Instead of getting down on yourself for what is wrong about you, choose to focus on what God says. He says you are made complete in Jesus.

Jesus loves you and thinks you have great worth. Don’t allow yourself to get down. Choose instead to focus on God’s great love for you! You find true freedom when you replace the idea of perfection with what God says about you.

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city. – Proverbs 16:32 (NLT)

We want to be powerful, don’t we? We want to have clout. We want others to know who we are and respect us. Having a million YouTube followers wouldn’t be bad either.

And there’s nothing wrong with having lots of followers. However, it’s not the most important thing. Today’s verse says that being patient is better than being powerful. Having self-control is better than conquering a city.

Learning to develop self-control and patience is important. It’s good to work on when you’re a teenager, because the habits you develop now will carry you through the rest of your life.

So today, if you’ve focused more on getting the respect of others rather than developing self-control, determine to make some adjustments. Don’t only look for the respect of others, but instead look to develop character within too.

Determine to develop Christ-like character and see the awesome things that God wants to do through you.

Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up. – Galatians 6:9 (WEB)

One thing that I’ve noticed about driving is that where you stop is important. For example, if I get to a stop sign and don’t come to a full stop, I’m breaking the law. Or if I see a stop sign and stop the moment I see it, 300 feet before the actual stop sign, I’m doing no good. Stopping early isn’t helpful at an intersection. When we come to a stop sign, we’re to stop fully and in the right place.

In life, it’s easy to stop too early. Maybe things have gotten really hard for you, and you just want to quit. Maybe you’re trying to be loving to a difficult person and even though you’ve tried time and time again to be kind to them, they continually treat you badly. So you’re ready to give up on them. But, if God hasn’t told you to quit on them yet, you’re quitting too early.

Sometimes in life, we are also guilty of not quitting when we should. Maybe we want to hang on to a bad relationship longer than God desires us to. Perhaps we know we should break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend who isn’t pushing us toward Jesus, but we like their company so we keep kicking the relationship forward, even when we know it’s wrong.

In life, stopping too early or not stopping at all can be bad. Just like we could get a traffic violation for failing to stop at a stop sign, there are consequences for not following God’s timing on things. This isn’t to say God is going to strike your dog with sickness or something crazy like that. However,  stopping too early can keep you from receiving something good that God wants for you. I remember a time when I had a friend that quit a job. She felt like she wasn’t making enough money, so she quit and went to work somewhere else. However, what my friend didn’t know was that she was about to get a promotion a few days after she quit. She would have been making more money and wouldn’t have had to quit a job that she liked. Stopping too early has consequences.

In life, we should be striving to do what today’s Bible verse tells us. Don’t get tired of doing good. Don’t give up and quit too early and don’t stay too long if it’s not right. Follow after God in all you do and you’ll experience good things in your life.

Today’s Truth: Follow after God. You’ll experience good things in your life.

but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. – James 1:14 (NIV)

Each of us faces temptation. The interesting thing about temptation is how easy it is to say no to some temptations, but not to others. For example, it’s easy for me to say no to stealing, but I struggle with lying. Another person may struggle sexually but have no desire to gossip. Each of us is tempted in different ways.

It’s easy to see a person struggling with temptation and begin to judge them. The truth is, however, we are all tempted. We might not always be tempted in ways that are visible to others, but we are all tempted to sin.

So when we see others sinning, it’s good to remember to not become critical of that person. We all mess up, we all sin and we all make stupid decisions. That’s just part of life and not being perfect. When we see others facing temptation, we should look for ways to encourage them or help them.

Recently, I was facing a situation where I was being tempted and a good friend began to hold me accountable. It made all the difference in the world. I was asking God for help and He put someone in my life to help me.

So if you’re struggling with temptation today, don’t be discouraged. Ask God to send someone to help you or a scripture to encourage you. If you’re not facing temptation, ask God to show you ways you can help someone who is struggling.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. – Phil 4:19 (NIV)

This is a really popular verse, but have you ever really taken the time to think about what it means? It starts off by saying God will meet all your needs. Not just one, but all of them. No matter how big or small they are, God wants to meet your needs.

The second part of the verse talks about how He will meet your needs. It’s according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God doesn’t have just a little bit to meet your needs, He has a lot. He has more than enough to meet any need you could ever face.

So how do we get these resources and help from God? I believe the first part of the verse shows us this. It talks about God in a personal way. It says my God. That means that when you have a relationship, a covenant with God, that He will meet your needs. If you’ve asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life then you’ve got a relationship with God. So that means that He’s now your God and He’s ready to meet any need that comes your way. So when you feel overwhelmed and like you don’t have enough remember today’s Bible verse. God is ready to meet every need you have!

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. – Colossians 3:13 (NLT)

Have you gotten offended? Maybe it’s the lunch lady who always seems to give you the worst hamburger. Or your teacher who you know has it out for you and gives you the worst assignments and grades. Maybe a friend told a secret and now you’re upset because you feel you can’t trust them anymore.

It’s so easy to get offended in life. There’s nothing wrong with getting offended, it happens to everyone. What’s important is how you handle the offense. Do you let yourself get upset and bitter? Do you try to get revenge or complain to everyone who will listen about how you were wronged?

Today’s Bible verse is really a challenge to how our culture handles offenses. Getting revenge is glorified. Going on a major social media rant is justified. Yet in spite of how most people handle offenses, as Christians, we are challenged to handle them differently.

We’re told to forgive if we’ve been wronged and to make allowances for other people’s faults. This can seem almost like an impossible task. However, as this Bible verse points out, we’ve been forgiven by God, so we can forgive others.

So today, if someone has offended you, decide to forgive. Decide to not hold it against them but to love them with the God kind of love.