READ: JOHN 1:12-13; ROMANS 5:1-11; EPHESIANS 2:1-10

It’s tough being best friends with a brain. I know because that was my story. My best friend Jean was nicknamed “The Brain” in middle school, and it stuck. The upside was she got me through my math classes. Thank you, Jean! The downside is that I put incredible pressure on myself to keep up with her, which I never could.

Does getting good grades stress you out? Maybe you feel pressured to keep up with your siblings or meet your parents’ expectations. Perhaps you live test by test, always wondering if your grades are high enough for the honor roll or good enough to stay on the football team.

If so, take a deep breath and read slowly. Getting good grades is good, but it’s not everything. Sound scandalous? Well, there’s something infinitely more important than grades. Your greatest standing is not in your class rank; it’s in Jesus. Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

That good news is a mouthful. So let’s break it down. One thing matters above all things: your relationship with God. If you’ve put your trust in Jesus, believing He died on the cross and rose from the grave to forgive your sins, you are God’s child. You have gained the greatest standing possible. You belong to God today and forever. This is the greatest thing about you, and you don’t have to study for it, pull an all-nighter, or memorize your notes. It’s a gift from God to you.

When you understand that you are God’s child no matter what, everything else falls into its right perspective. Work hard at school, but don’t stress. You are not your grade, class standing, or university admission letter. You are God’s beloved child, and nothing matters more. • Lenae Bulthuis

• Do you feel pressure to get good grades or succeed in some other way? Does that pressure come from others or yourself?

• It’s easy to fall into believing that our identity is somehow tied to our performance. But the truth is, beforeyou could even do anything, God already loved you completely. It was worth it to Him to suffer the cross so that you could be forgiven and become His child. You could never earn God’s love, and you could never make God stop loving you. How can remembering Jesus’s death and resurrection help us see achievements like grades and athletics in the right perspective?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 (NIV)