Our Daily Bread Teens EditionSample

Read Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
 who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
 or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
 and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
 which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
 whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
 They are like chaff
 that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
 nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
 but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Obeying God

I’ve never ever met anyone whose life was all messed up because they did what God said. Yet, following God’s ways is often seen as some kind of “slavery” that will take away all our fun and freedom. The people who say we should obey God’s boundaries and rules are just outdated and boring, right?

We often think that freedom is doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Lots of our friends probably try to live like this too.

Followers of Jesus should have a very different view of freedom. Like the writer of Psalm 1, we must realise that a full life comes from loving God’s Word (Psalm 1:2) and following His good direction—and not living like those who “walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take” (v. 1). A follower of Jesus will understand that God’s boundaries are not meant to take the joy or fun out of life. Instead, they are given by God to keep us from getting hurt and messing up.

The next time we want to ignore God and do our own thing, we need to remember that He has given us His Word because He loves us and wants to protect us. —JS

If we try to live without the Bible guiding us, we’ll just get lost.

Talk to God

God, I don’t like being told what to do and I don’t like rules that stop me from having fun. But I know You gave them to us to protect us, because You love us. Please give me patience and wisdom to accept Your rules and help me understand why these rules matter. 

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