 Oh, sorry guys, I'm late for class. If you're going back to school, or maybe you've been back for a couple weeks, you need to hear this. But before we get into it, I just wanna give a huge shout out to our Daily Disciple Club members, people on Patreon who support this ministry on a monthly basis. Thank you so much for becoming a club member. And if you wanna become a club member, head on over to the description and you can sign up to help contribute monthly and become a part of the Daily Disciple Club. Now on to the video. Okay, so there's a whole bunch of birds squawking outside my window, but that's okay. We're gonna keep going because today we're talking about school. School, people going back to school, maybe just online, maybe in person, but whatever it is for you, I think you need to hear this. Whether it's school or work or our hobbies, we try to pull worth from it to make ourselves feel like we are worth something that we are valuable in some way. And when we're in school, I know when I was in school, it was one of these things where if I got a B or an A, then I probably was, you know, I'm pretty valuable, but if I got a D or a C, then it's all of a sudden like your self-worth is just gone and you're a piece of trash that deserves to die. Like we can't be so connected to our grades in this way. And I just want you to be aware if that's where you're at, if it's that kind of like, oh man, if I got a B, my life would be over. If I get a C, my life would be over. Like just tap into that. See where that's coming from because if we're not looking to Christ for our worth, what he says about us, man, we're gonna be so disappointed. So that's my encouragement. Look to Christ in this way for your worth because if it's in that stuff, you're gonna be disappointed. And related to this, don't find your identity in whether you're good or bad at school. So often we tie our identity to things that we do rather than who God says we are. And so that's the biggest thing, right? Whether you're super great at school and you're like, well, I'm a math whiz or I'm really good at writing or whatever, you're gonna wanna attach your identity to that. But I'm just gonna say, hey, pull away from that. Pull away from that. That sinking sand, that won't last. First Peter 2.9 says this, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellence of him who has called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. That is your identity. Another thing to remember is that truth is not determined by what your professor or what your teacher says it's defined by what God says. So in your classes, as you're learning, whether in school or not, we ought to be discerning what people are saying against the word of God because that is the truth. Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through him. So if we're looking in other places for truth and we're not looking back to the Bible to see if that actually lines up, we're gonna buy into some lies. We're gonna buy into some zeitgeist of the age just because it sounds pretty good. But we ought to be going back to the scripture saying, hey, what is this person saying? How does it line up with the scripture here? Because look, no education is neutral. They're not just gonna teach you neutral facts. Every kind of fact or truth has a worldview behind it. And if it's not according to the Christian worldview, we ought to be aware of that. Because look, I hear things all the time that sound good and sound nice and sound true. But when I look back at the Bible, I find out, oh wait, that's actually not what the Bible says. And that's when we get to the point of really finding out where our confidence and convictions lie. Is it according to what sounds good or is it according to what God says? One of the biggest things is be intentional about community. Be intentional about finding community. I'll tell you why community is so important is because at least in my experience, when you're in your books, when you're doing assignments, when you're writing, when you're working, all these things, you get pulled into your own space of mind and maybe some thought patterns occur and maybe you start honestly thinking more negatively, anxieties able to fester because you're not getting out these thoughts, ideas or worries or struggles or even talking to somebody about their own experience. It's very inward focus, it's very introspective, which is good, but we get to the point of just being so introspective that we really just collapse sometimes and we burn out in school. That's why I say find that community, be intentional about finding that community and make that a priority. It's amazing God's design because as we actually help other people and listen to them and talk to them about what they're going through, we're actually being ministered to because as we help people and as we talk to people within community, we're gaining that perspective and we're also being encouraged to continue to follow Christ. That's why I say so important, be intentional about that. I know it can be fun to sometimes sit around and compare grades or whatever, but don't dwell on that that much because at the end of the day, the person with the worst grades, they're gonna feel the worst. So maybe you have great grades and you wanna show them off to all your friends and that's great, but be sensitive to understand that hey look, we don't always need to be comparing ourselves to other people. Our worth is not in our work and our identity is not in how good or bad we are at school. Whether it's watching Netflix, drinking alcohol, or just buying random stuff to try to cope with that stress or anxiety, identify those things because I think there's great ways that we can pivot towards more healthy lifestyles and more biblical lifestyles if we can see what those coping mechanisms are and really just when we're feeling stressed, when we're feeling anxious, have a better pivot, pivoting towards Christ, pivoting towards prayer, pivoting towards listening to things that are gonna encourage us in our faith and to pursue God more deeply as opposed to things that'll just distract us from our stress and anxiety because that stuff will get bottled up and it will not be good when you continue to avoid all these things that are making you stressed or anxious or uncomfortable. This is just a quick word of comfort from Second Corinthians. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in his comfort too. God invites you to share in his comfort just as he invites you to share in his suffering. You can do this. School will be interesting this year, no doubt about it. But I think that it's gonna be a great opportunity wherever you're at to be able to pour into community, be intentional about that, be intentional about pursuing Christ and working hardly for the glory of God. But yet understanding and resting in the fact that God has saved you by his grace, your identity is in him, your worth is in what he says you are and who he says you are, you can rest in that. You can absolutely rest in that. So I'm so thankful that you watched this video. I hope it was an encouragement to you. I hope you have a great time going back to school or if you're already there. And if you just watched this video and you're not going back to school, but I hope you got something from it. Once again, if you wanna join the club, there's amazing club members over at the Daily Disciple Club and you can sign up, link in description and it would be amazing if you signed up. It really helps out the ministry. Subscribe down below. If you haven't done that already, putting out new videos every single Thursday, can you believe that? Every single Thursday, it's amazing. And give this video a like if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment down below with what you're doing in school and how you are dealing with it or what your thoughts are as you're approaching going back to school. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time. God bless.