The Good LifeSample

Do you ever dress or act a certain way to fit into your friend group, school, or community? If so, it’s normal. It happens at my school all the time. It’s pretty normal to pay a lot of attention to what our friends like and what we think will make them like us more. We want to do things that make our friends happy and show them that we’re a person worth being friends.

Now, what if we also spent time thinking about what pleases God? To be clear, that time is not to find ways to get God to like us because God loves us exactly as we are. God sent Jesus to die and come back to life to prove how much God loves us just as we are. What if we do this because we care about living in ways that God would be pleased with? What if we do this because we want to live in ways that show we love God back? It’s possible to know what pleases God because many of the Bible’s authors make it clear. Today’s verse says specifically, “we urge you…to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you.” Use your Bible as a resource to see what God says is best. Maybe even start by reading one of the stories of Jesus’ life (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and pay attention to how he lived and what he said is best.

Written by Katie, age 15, from Buford, Georgia, USA