Today's verse: “There are people who think they are so good—oh, how good they think they are!” (Proverbs 30:13, GNT)
Imagine two children making a school project together. One forgets a part, and the other is upset. It is right to say what is missing and ask for help finishing it. But calling the classmate “hopeless” does something else: it takes one mistake in the project and attaches it to the whole person.
Think of a test paper. A grade tells you how that test went. It cannot measure everything you know, all the effort you made, or how much you are worth. The same is true of other people. When you think you are better than everyone else, one mistake can make you look down on a classmate. You can notice the mistake without treating the person who made it as if they mattered less than you.
Jesus once sat at a table with a woman others judged. He noticed what she did, spoke to her, and showed that God's forgiveness was greater than the label people had given her. Jesus knows all of you, too. God loves you when you do well, and he keeps loving you when you need to learn and make something right.
If someone laughs at you, stops you from speaking, or calls you a hurtful name, tell a trusted adult. You deserve to be heard. And when you are upset with another child, offer the same respect you would want to receive.
Golden line: “A grade tells the story of one test. It never tells the whole story of a person.”