If pursuing Christ to one day go to Heaven and know Him is our main goal, then everything else is a journey to that goal, but not our eternity.

As the school year definitely begins to become more stressful, remember that this is not your end goal. Yes, wanting to do well in school is a good thing, but it's not what our hope is in. Our hope can never be focused on a test or an assignment or even who the next political candidate will be. Our focus should be on Jesus. He is our hope. This hope isn't fleeting, and it doesn't change. It's an eternal and assured hope that sustains through out our life's and the end of the age.

It breaks my heart to see so many people place their identity in things that truly don't matter. I've heard people talk about how at the end of the day what matters is that they were a good person. No, what matters is having a relationship with Jesus. Wanting to do good in and of itself is not bad, but our good works pail in comparison to the goodness of God. Our goodness can never earn us salvation or eternal paradise because it is all fleeting, and it is not possible to simply "outweigh" our sins with good deeds. We could never and will never be "good enough" to do so.

We are sinners, and we are in desperate need of grace. This dependency though is our ticket to freedom. Our need for God creates a new life within is, and it is a beautiful thing.

Jesus died for you. Isn't that amazing? Even if it was only for you He had to die for, He would do it because He loves You. He made you special, and that's wonderful thing. You were handcrafted and not simply put together by chance. You were designed by the Creator of the universe. He knew since way more you were born that you would be alive right now. He knew that you wouldn't be reading article right now where you are at.

He wants you just the way you are to come to Him. He wants your heart.

This love is different than anything we have ever known because it is completely unconditional, and this love was there before we were even born. There is nothing that you could do to earn this love, and there's nothing you can do to lose it. It is free and a gift. It satisfies this innate need in all of us to feel important and cared for.

Since this is truth in our lives, we need to make sure that we don't settle for anything less. We need to be cautious that we don't expect to find unconditional love and true value without Jesus because it simply won't be there. The things of this world will fade, but our God is eternal.