Have you ever felt silly for believing in God? Maybe many of your friends have nothing to do with God, or it seems like when watching TV that no one really accounts for God in your life. And so you feel a little silly to believe in Him yourself.

And while the media and your friends might make you feel that way, the truth is, it really does make a lot of sense to believe in God.

They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts. The way their minds judge them proves this fact. Sometimes their thoughts find them guilty. At other times their thoughts find them not guilty. – Romans 2:15 (NIRV)

Today’s verse shows us that we all have a sense of right and wrong that is written in our hearts. Why is that? I believe it’s because deep down, people know instinctively there is a God.

Have you ever thought about how without God, there could be no right or wrong? For example, if we simply evolved, then why do we as humans abide by laws of morality? If we are evolved animals, then why should we just not kill each other as many other animals do? But if there’s a God and a creator, then it makes sense that we should abide by the laws of morality. Because God as the creator has told us in the Bible that human life has value.

This is just one of many examples of why faith in God makes sense. You shouldn’t feel bad for believing in God. God is the reason why we have morality in the first place. So don’t lose heart. Stand up for what you believe and know that faith in God makes sense.

I’ve always wondered why people would read through the Bible. It’s such a big book, and I really figured, why not skip the boring parts, right? Then last year, everything changed for me. While I didn’t get through the entire Bible, I started in Genesis and began reading it, not skipping anything.

It was awesome! I realized there were so many good parts that I had been skipping over, simply because I didn’t want to put in the effort or thought they were boring.

I got a lot out of reading parts of the Bible I hadn’t read before. And the same might be true for you too. Perhaps you haven’t read sections of the Bible. Maybe because they didn’t interest you, or perhaps for some other reason.

Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. – Psalm 119:18 (NLT)

Challenge yourself to get into the Bible this year. Read it. Even the parts you normally would skip. You’ll be amazed how you grow in your knowledge of God and in your relationship with Him.

And if you feel like you won’t understand it, ask God for His help. Like today’s verse says, ask Him to open your eyes to see the wonderful truths in the Bible. There’s no doubt about it, the Bible will help you grow!

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. – Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)

Some decisions you make in life really don’t have that much weight. What you eat for lunch, whether you wear your black or brown shoes, or which social media account to check first, are examples of those types of things. However, some decisions you make in life can make a huge difference. Examples of these would be where you go to college, or who you marry. These decisions make a lot bigger impact on the course your life takes.

These big decisions can be really hard to make. You might feel uncertain or unsure if you’re making the right decision. However, if you follow what today’s Bible verse talks about, you can know that you’re making the right decision. The first step in making the right decision is to start seeking God in everything you do.

Today’s Truth: The first step in making good decisions is to start seeking God in everything you do. 

When you get up, take a moment to thank God for your day. When you get ready for the day, talk to God and ask His help. When you eat lunch take a second to thank God for the food you have to eat. In the moments you have during the day, take time out to include God. Seek Him and His will in all you do. When you do this, you’ll not have such difficulty making the bigger decisions. Seeking God in the small things always pays off.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Gal 2:21 (NLT)

As a kid I never could understand why my mom got so excited about an old set of Nancy Drew books she had. She wanted me to look at them and read them. The books smelled musty and old, the pictures were outdated and honestly, I really wanted nothing to do with them. However, to my mom, they were valuable because she had one of the first sets ever printed. To me, they were meaningless because I didn’t understand the value of owning original copies of the books.

A lot of the time, we treat the grace of God the same way. We haven’t taken time to find out it’s value in our lives and so it becomes meaningless to us.

Jesus came to the earth to take away our sins and to make us right with God. If our sins could be removed by following the Old Testament law, or doing good works, then there was no need for Jesus to come. What Jesus did was given to us freely. We didn’t have to earn it, we simply have to believe in Jesus. The grace of God isn’t based on what we can do, but rather in what Jesus has already done.

Today’s Truth: God’s grace isn’t based on what we do, but rather what Jesus has already done.

This should free us up to love God more and devote our lives in a deeper way to Jesus. Don’t let what Jesus did become meaningless in your life. Choose to spend some time thinking about God’s grace today!

We’ve talked a lot this week about reading your Bible this new year and praising God. Another good habit to develop is prayer.

You might feel a little intimidated when it comes to praying to God. It can be easy to wonder what to say or how to say things. The good news is that God loves you. He wants to hear from you. So anything you say to Him, He will be excited to hear.

So instead of getting worried about whether you have all the right things to say, decide to just talk to God. Don’t worry about it being right or wrong, just act like you’re talking to a friend. Tell Him your concerns. Let Him know you love Him. Find things to thank Him for.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. – 1 John 5:14 (NIV)

God wants to hear from you. He loves you, so don’t be afraid to go to Him and begin praying. From the small things to the big ones, God loves you, and He hears you when you pray!

Have you ever thought about the fact that you can love God, but not really love the Bible? That might sound strange, but it is possible. There are Christians that go to church, love Jesus with all their hearts, yet don’t read their Bibles.

And while reading your Bible won’t keep you from heaven, it’s an important spiritual practice as Christians we should do.

Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble. – Psalm 119:165 (NLT)

Loving God and being thankful for your salvation is awesome. However, getting into the Bible and loving God’s word is important too. There’s a lot that can be learned about God by reading His word. You begin to see who God is, His love for you, and His true nature.

So if you haven’t yet, decide that this year, you’ll try to read more of the Bible. Something as simple as listening to a couple of chapters a day on YouTube will get you through the Bible in a year.

You probably saw our challenge yesterday encouraging you to read the Bible this year. And you might think: why should I read the Bible? More importantly, why should I read the whole thing?

And those would be good questions. The Bible is a huge book. The idea of reading it can seem overwhelming. Then there are the parts that are hard to understand, and you might question if diving into it is really for you.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. – Proverbs 30:5 (NKVJ)

To answer those questions, let’s look at our verse for today. It tells us that every word of God is pure. That means they’re all important. From the strange ones to the ones that you really love, the Bible is God’s word. As followers of Jesus, we should be wanting to know what God says, every word.

So if you haven’t before, challenge yourself to read the Bible this year. Don’t be discouraged by how big it is. Reading through it takes 3-4 chapters a day. You can even find it on YouTube or the YouVersion app and have it read to you. That can be helpful if you don’t like the idea of reading it yourself.

Challenge yourself this year to see if you can read the Bible cover to cover. You’ll be excited to see how much you learn!

It’s a new year. And you might be thinking about resolutions. Maybe there’s a habit you want to break. Perhaps you want to learn something new. In the middle of all the resolutions, however, I’d like to add one for you to consider.

How about reading through the Bible? Lots of us pick up the Bible and read a favorite verse and think about it a bit. And then a few days later maybe we pick it up again and read a favorite chapter or passage. But have you considered reading through it this year?

There’s something powerful about reading the entirety of the Bible as a whole. The way it all fits together and all the things you can learn from even the less exciting parts of it are simply amazing. Today’s verse talks about hiding God’s word in our hearts. One way we can do that is to read through the Bible this year.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. – Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

If you haven’t before, consider reading through the whole Bible this year. You can find a plan to follow on YouVersion or online, or just keep it really simple. You could simply read 3-4 chapters a day, which will allow you to finish in the course of a year.

Even if you follow a plan and get a few days behind, don’t give up. Maybe it will take you a year and a half, but however long it takes, determine to make reading through the Bible one of your goals this year.

Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. – Acts 10:34 (NLT)

Have you ever had a friend that was one of your teacher’s favorite students? Maybe your teacher always was friendly to them and seemed to go out of their way to treat them well. It’s easy to want to get jealous of those students that are the teacher’s favorites and feel like because you’re not the favorite that you’re not going to be treated the same as another student.

Did you know that regardless of whether you’re a teacher’s favorite or not that God doesn’t show favoritism? If He did something great for one of His kids He will do the same thing for you. God loves you and wants you to experience His best in life.

He wants to bless you like He’s blessed others. He wants to have you walk in peace like you’ve seen others walk in. He wants you doing well in life. So today be encouraged. God wants good things for your life. So choose to believe and expect God to do good things for you.