We are God's creation, and He knows what's best!

Okay, the next lesson/reminder was that God has created us and therefore knows what's best for us, and THAT's why He tells us to do certain things; NOT because He's an evil sniggering rule-obsessed type who likes to see us fail.

We were doing 2 Peter in youth Bible studies, and for one of the week's applications we decided to each pick a characteristic from chapter 1 like godliness, perseverance, kindness etc. that we were struggling with, so that we could work on it during the week.

I had a sinking suspicion the following week that they had forgotten to apply this in their week, but amazingly they hadn't! I talked to my one girl who described how she hadn't been grouchy to certain people she would've normally been emos with; instead she'd just smiled and been friendly, and she said it was soo cool cause she'd actually felt good inside.That just reminded me again that we don't do things like that (e.g. be nice and friendly and caring and godly) ‘cause we're good, BUT we do it cause God's created us and he knows what's best for us. Being godly is what we've been designed for!!!!
- example: anger. We’re not told to control our anger ‘cause it only hurts other people. We’re told not to be angry ‘cause it also hurts us. Anyone who's been angry for more than 5 minutes or more, knows how it can turn you so bitter and vengeful; in the end it eats you up and hurts you more than it hurts others!

Yay for God who created us to be fulfilled in Him!