There can be absolutely no reason for someone to choose goodness or to do right. To feel they have value when they’re treated poorly by those around them or to feel loved at times. When we make a bad choice and feel terrible about ourselves, if there’s no one there to lift us up, a person can spiral down.

Sometimes fear of the unknown or the desire not to be with someone, can cause us to do things we wouldn’t otherwise do or don’t even want to do deep down.

Believing in something bigger than ourselves, believing that there is something more important at stake, is essential to keeping us from floundering in times of uncertainty.

There is always the problem of the herd mentality that sends good people running right off a cliff without even realizing it.

That is why faith in a loving God who values us and who tells us, “those things that are pure, and right and true and just and of good report” to think on these things, can be just the thing that keeps us on the right path.

There are always going to be times when life gets us down, When people fail us, when it seems like the whole world is against us and we still need to know that we are loved and valued and we still have purpose. We don’t want children to look to an abuser or the drug dealer or the gang leader or even some group that may or may not have their best interest at heart.

That being said, I’m not talking about getting involved in a religious movement or a cult or some popular spiritual phase of the day. I’m talking about a personal individual spiritual relationship with our loving creator.

If we sit down with our loving creator (however you may define Him) I don’t think His advice to us is going to be that we should hate someone else because of what they have done, who they are, or what we think they believe. Seeing the division in our country and what people say about each other is so disappointing to say the least. Hearing what people say they’re going to do to somebody else with one group or another only speaks to the wrong direction we’re going. Our greatest hope is that we as individuals would love each other better, more, and without persecuting each other.