Our Daily Bread Teens EditionSample

Read Psalm 73:21–28

21 When my heart was grieved
 and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
 I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
 you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
 and afterwards you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
 And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
 but God is the strength of my heart
 and my portion for ever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
 you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
 I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
 I will tell of all your deeds.

The Good Life

Money, looks, friends, being cool and fun are all good, but they’re not the best. The best thing in life is loving God and enjoying His love—living for Him and having Him as our best friend. That leads to the best possible life because it’s what we’re designed to do! Living for God is really satisfying (John 10:10), and it’s what we will be doing forever.

That’s why we should make time for God and rest in His love—the love that made you and me. It is the reason we are here and the way that we can make the most of our lives.

I like the way the writer of Psalm 73 put it: “It is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge” (v. 28). In other words, the good life is being close to the One who loves us like no other.

And how do we draw “near” to Him? Here’s something I started doing recently: take a few minutes every morning to read some verses from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and see what Jesus said or did. After all, He came to show us what God is like (Hebrews 1:1–3). Put yourself in the story—in the place of the leper He healed with His loving touch, for example (Mark 1:40–45). Think about how much He loves you and then thank Him! —DR

God’s love is the centre of the good life!

Thinking It Over

Think of other ways to draw near to Jesus.

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