We like to put sin on a scale where our own transgressions wind up looking "less" sinful than those of the next person. But we don't get to say that other people's sins are too terrible to be forgiven while ours aren't bad enough to keep us out of Heaven. Jesus' death on the cross served as payment for ALL sin, and there's no person alive who cannot be declared forgiven thanks to His sacrifice.

Scripture tells us to seek God first, and to seek Him with our whole heart. But we can't do that unless and until we set aside all the other distractions that attempt to draw our focus away from Him. The question is: what do we feel so passionate about and desperate for that we're prepared to ask God for it with unwavering boldness and relentless persistence?

Sometimes it feels like God's hiding from us. But the truth is, we're the ones trying to hide from Him! God promises that we can find Him if only we're willing to seek Him with our whole hearts instead of continuing in our patterns of sin and trying to hide our actions from Him.

When we focus on the attacks that come at us from the devil, we lose sight of the incredible power of our God. He's promised to protect us and to fight our battles on our behalf. All we have to do is cry out to Him -- and then trust and obey what He tells us to do when He comes to our aid.

God doesn't want us to just look good on the outside -- He wants us to clean up the inside. But when Jesus lives within us, we often neglect "cleaning house" for Him because it can be a messy process for us to sort through the junk in our lives. Instead of focusing on doing all the right things to appear clean on the surface, we should be taking inventory from the inside out.

Nobody ever promised the Christian life would be easy -- least of all, Christ Himself! But we're called to persevere through the trials with the power of the Lord. The easiest response to boredom, struggles, and suffering is for us to move on to the "next" thing, but when God directs us to stay in something, He also gives us the strength to do it.

Scripture tells us that we were bought with a price, but we tend to forget that fact when we're so busy trying to save the very lives we've been called to lose. Not all of us will be asked to die a physical death for Christ's sake, but we ARE all called to die to ourselves, take up our crosses, and live for Him. When we ask ourselves if we're really willing to take a stand for Jesus no matter the cost, what will the answer be?

Our emotions aren't sinful in and of themselves. It's how we react to them that determines whether we've sinned. When we try to control ourselves, we end up OUT of control, but when we give ourselves to God and ask Him to work through us, He offers us the ability to respond righteously to confrontation instead of exploding in frustration and anger.

We all know this life is full of struggles. That's why God gave us the gift of community through His Church. The Body of Christ exists for us to comfort others when they fall and to be lifted up when we ourselves have fallen.

We think this life is all about reaching a particular destination -- a new car, a bigger house, a job promotion, or the next big goal. It's easy to get caught up in believing we'll just be happy when we hit a certain point. But how would our day-to-day living look different if we chose to trust in God and rejoice in His plan no matter what season of life we're in?