Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: PSALM 139:1-4; ROMANS 5:6-8; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

We curate the caption and crop the distraction,
Chasing the applause of a virtual reaction.
We polish the exterior to hide the interior,
Afraid that our true selves are somehow inferior.
But in the quiet, when the screen goes black,
We feel the heavy weight of the perfection we lack.
See, Jesus didn’t come for your highlight reel,
He came for the brokenness you try to conceal.
No filter could cover the crimson cost of sin,
So He opened His arms to let the rebels in.
On the cross, He was exposed, stripped, and bruised,
So the real you would never have to be refused.
He was buried in the dark so you could walk in the light,
Tearing the veil to make your future bright.
The grave couldn’t hold Him, the stone rolled away,
Giving you mercy that is new every day.
You are not a brand, a post, or a trend,
You are chosen, beloved, and called His friend.
So drop the performance, let the pretense cease,
And rest in the rhythm of His perfect peace. • Ty Scott King

• Why do you think it’s sometimes easier to show people a curated version of ourselves rather than who we really are? What parts of yourself do you try to curate, edit, and hide away?

• Jesus sees the unedited version of you, and He loves you so much that He died and rose again for you. How could this truth affect the way yo view your mistakes, flaws, or things you just don’t like about yourself?

• Are there any areas of your life where you feel like you’re putting on a performance instead of trusting God’s grace? Consider spending some time in prayer, laying these things down at Jesus’s feet and asking Him to help you see yourself the way He sees you.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

READ: PSALM 77; ROMANS 8:35-39

Have you ever felt abandoned by God?

Psalm 77 records a fervent prayer of Asaph. At the beginning, Asaph searches for and calls out to God, so we’d think everything would turn out okay, right? But then Asaph groans! He remembers the ways God helped him in the past, but he feels agony that he is no longer in that place. He starts to wonder if God still cares about him. He goes so far as to question God’s character, wondering if He is even compassionate and merciful anymore.

In the same way, we may have moments when we cry out to God, remembering that He is with us, and we still feel no comfort. That’s because our circumstances bring us real pain, and we know that God can do something about it. But He doesn’t. And we can’t understand why He doesn’t.

But just when Asaph is going down that path, everything shifts. This is when he intentionally directs his thoughts to God’s faithfulness. Asaph is essentially saying, I’m going to choose to remember what God has done for me in the past. Even though my circumstances have changed since then, God has not changed. My situation is different, but God is still the same.

By the end of the psalm, in one sense, nothing has changed for Asaph. His situation is unmoved. But in another sense, pondering what’s true about God changed everything for Asaph, as his mind shifted from the pain of his circumstances to the awesomeness of His God. It’s like he was saying, You have done great things. Nothing stood in your way when you led your people out of the most difficult, hopeless situation. No one and nothing has ever stood in your way.

Think about what Jesus has done for you and for me—what His life, death, and resurrection have saved us from, and what He continues to rescue us out of. God has not changed, even if our circumstances have. No matter what’s going on in our lives, God has not given up on us. He never has, and He never will. • Andrew Jacob Mead

• Can you think of any examples of good things God has done for you in the past—ways He has rescued, provided for, sustained, or delighted you? Consider taking a moment to thank Him for this! (James 1:17)

• Can you think of a time you felt abandoned by God? Jesus felt abandoned by the Father when He was on the cross, so He knows how we feel (Matthew 27:45-46). And because Jesus died and rose again for us, nothing can ever separate us from Him. (Find out more on our "Know Jesus" page.)

But then I recall all you have done, O LORD; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. Psalm 77:11 (NLT)

READ: ISAIAH 53:3-4; EPHESIANS 1:3-7; 1 PETER 2:4

When my parents divorced, I moved to a brand-new town at the beginning of fourth grade. After feeling rejected by a parent and leaving my hometown where all my old friends were, it felt good when I made three friends at my new school. But suddenly, one day, none of them wanted to play with me anymore. They didn’t want to be my friends. For about a month or so, they intentionally ignored and made fun of me. I felt rejection—again.

It hurt to be rejected like that. I was new to the area, and I’d thought these were my only real friends. Since then, I’ve learned that when we face rejection, it helps to remember three things:

1. Jesus experienced rejection too. You are not alone. Jesus knows. Jesus has gone through the pain and the heartache. He was betrayed by a close friend— and then disowned by a friend who was even closer. His disciples completely abandoned Him in His most painful hour. Jesus can relate to us. He’s been there before. He has felt our sadness. And that’s the next point.

2. It’s okay to be sad. Sometimes we think that sadness is a sign of weakness. But we read in Isaiah 53 that Jesus was “a man of sorrows.” He knows our hurt and pain. He experienced deep sadness, and He wept. It’s okay to be sad and acknowledge hurt. It’s healthy to cry and feel the full weight of our pain, knowing that Jesus won’t let it break us. And that’s the third point.

3. We are not crushed. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus to save us, why don’t we break? Because we’ve been chosen by the all-powerful God, the one who created everything! So even if the whole world rejects us, it won’t crush us, because God will never reject us. His Spirit lives in us, sustaining us through heartache and reminding us of God’s unfailing love (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

So whenever we’re rejected, we can run to Jesus, remembering that He knows our pain, and it’s okay to be sad. Rejection cannot crush us, because who we are in Jesus can never be taken away. • Andrew Jacob Mead

• When we face rejection, how could it be comforting to know that Jesus experienced the greatest rejection of all—and He endured it for us? (John 1:10-12)

• When we feel the pain of rejection, how could it be helpful to remember that God chose us? Consider taking a moment to talk to Him about any times you’ve been rejected. He wants to help us process these terrible experiences through prayer, Scripture, tears, and conversations with trusted Christians in our lives who can show us the compassionate love of Jesus.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)

READ: DEUTERONOMY 33:26-29; ISAIAH 40:1-11; JOHN 10:10-11, 27-30

When I was little, my dad had a friend who visited us, named Dennis. Once we took him on a walk through the woods on some family property. My parents probably suggested I change into more suitable shoes, but I wore sandals. Before long, I stepped into a pile of biting fire ants. As the insects swarmed my feet, Dennis quickly reached down and scooped me up. As he held me, he brushed the bugs away. I felt protected and safe in his arms, high above the stinging ants.

Later, we ate lunch with Dennis. During the meal, I choked on an onion ring. Dennis knew how to help. I don’t remember how the onion got dislodged, but I do remember Dennis comforting me again in the safety of his strong arms. The strength he shared—and the safety I felt—is something I remember about Dennis decades later.

When I ponder God’s character, sometimes these memories of Dennis come to mind. In the Bible, we find that whenever we’re in trouble, God reaches down to rescue us. In Jesus, He endured the cross so that we could be held, protected and safe, in His strong arms. Once we’ve put our trust in Jesus, not only do we receive forgiveness and eternal life, but Christ also ushers us into a relationship with God our Father. And what a Father He is!

The prophet Isaiah says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (40:11). And later, Isaiah shares God’s words to us, “I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (46:4). Sometimes it’s difficult to envision God as a loving Father, especially if our parents were distant or harsh. But God the Father looks after us with care and holds us close in our need—like Dennis did for me. • Allison Wilson Lee

• Can you think of any people in your life who’ve shown you the compassionate strength of God the Father? How did their actions show God’s love?

• How could remembering that God carries us close to His heart help us trust Him more? Consider taking a moment to talk to Him about this, and maybe even imagine Him holding you this way.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

READ: EXODUS 24:12; 34:6; ROMANS 7:1-22; GALATIANS 3

Kids under ten can be pretty blunt. While listening to the book of Leviticus, a freckled-faced girl commented, “I feel like the God of the Old Testament is so different from the New Testament. He’s sitting on a couch saying, ‘Bring me more grapes! Do this! Don’t do that, or you will be punished!’” While her words were startling, this nine-year-old made some sense.

Throughout the Old Testament, we find accounts of God punishing sin and disobedience—by death, fire, plagues, and the like. Where is the God of mercy who died on the cross to save us? Did God eventually soften up over the years? What was the point of giving us the law anyway?

First, it’s important to remember that, from before the beginning of creation until the end of time and beyond, God remains the same. Like a diamond, He has many facets. Not only is He completely loving and merciful but He is also fully holy and just. God in His goodness and holiness cannot be a part of sin, which breaks and destroys. And, sadly, we have all sinned.

Thankfully, God’s plan all along was to come to us in Jesus as “the sacrifice that atones for our sins” (1 John 2:2). The law is useful because it reveals God’s righteousness—and our inability to carry it out. All our good deeds will always be “nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). We need a Savior—the Son of God Himself who did no wrong. Only His sacrifice for us could make us truly right with God. The law is powerless to save us from sin and death, but in Christ Jesus, we receive the fullness of God’s mercy and new life. • Savannah Coleman

• Consider just a few examples of God’s mercy in the Old Testament: saving Noah’s family from the flood (Genesis 6-9), rescuing Lot’s family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-29), delivering the Israelites out of slavery (Exodus 1-14), or calling Nineveh to repentance and showing them compassion, even though the city had been wicked to the core (Jonah 3–4). When we read the Old Testament, how could it be helpful to go into it expecting to see God’s rescuing love?

• Consider just a few examples of God’s justice in the New Testament: Ananias and Sapphira’s consequence for lying to God (Acts 5:1-11), the parable Jesus told of the widow and her adversary and how that relates to God’s justice on behalf of His children (Luke 18:1-8), and the defeat of Satan at the end of time (Revelation 19:11-21; 20:10). How could it be comforting to know that God does not turn a blind eye to evil and injustice, but promises to right every wrong?

But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes. Romans 7:13 (NLT)