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b'One thing I wish I knew earlier in my teen years is that what I do will never be perfect. I am imperfect and sinful, and I need Jesus in my life!\\nA few years ago, I was stuck in a cycle, something I like to call the \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153perfection cycle.\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d Everything I did, I\\u2019d strive to do perfectly. I made sure nothing was out of place. The worst parts about this cycle are (1) you base your worth on how well you performed a certain task and (2) this promotes \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153me\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d thinking and leads to prideful thoughts.\\nHere\\u2019s an example: One of my favorite classes in middle school was geography class. I would strive to do my best in that class\\u2014and there\\u2019s nothing wrong with that when you\\u2019re working for God (Colossians 3:23 says, \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d). However, over time, I let that class become my worth. Whenever I did well on a test, I would feel proud and boast about how well I did to my friends and family. But, when I didn\\u2019t do as well, I would feel really upset and jealous of someone who did better than I did.\\nBut God is so good, and He revealed the underlying lie I was believing: I was trying to be perfect in order to feel loved and accepted. But that\\u2019s just not possible! Here\\u2019s the thing: We are a broken and sinful people, ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). There\\u2019s nothing we can do to get ourselves out of the pit of sin we\\u2019re in! Thankfully, God sent His Son, Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life and died on a cross in order to take God\\u2019s just wrath for our sin. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, defeating sin and death for good! This action bridged the gap between us and God, and when we put our trust in Jesus, we\\u2019re saved from sin and united to God through the Holy Spirit. We also find complete love and acceptance in Christ, which is what we crave because it\\u2019s what God created us for! Isn\\u2019t that better than trying to become a perfect human? \\u2022 Carissa Vruggink\\n\\u2022 Have there been times in your life you\\u2019ve tried to be perfect in order to be loved and accepted? \\n\\u2022 Jesus freely chose to die on the cross to free us from our cycle of sin and death, which we could never do! For more about Jesus\\u2019s free gift of salvation, check out our \\u201cKnow Jesus\\u201d page.\\nFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\\u2014and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\\u2014not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nJohn.17|Gen.12.1-Gen.12.9|Phil.3.20'