All the others seemed to have something over me—a reason that they were better than me. But I don't ever have to worry about how I compare to others since I belong to Jesus.

I sighed inwardly as I watched a group of girls walk down the hallway at school. It wasn't that I was jealous of them; it was just that they seemed so cool, unlike me. Those girls were funny and pretty; it really looked like they had their act together. It feels like some people have it all—friends, popularity, money, good looks, talents.

So, my self-esteem plummeted. "I'll never be as great as they are," I thought. "No matter what I do, I'm still going to be a loser. I stink." And to be honest, I was a little scared that someone would find out what I'm really like. After all, who wants to be around someone as boring and ugly as me?

Believe it or not, everyone from a janitor to the president has days like this. Whether we catch ourselves doing it or not, from time to time we all think about how pathetic we are. Usually we don't even try to avoid those thoughts. But I wonder where these thoughts are actually coming from.

Thousands of years back, Adam and Eve began thinking similar things after they had fallen into sin. They tried to hide from God. They were afraid because they knew they had disobeyed. "But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.' And he said, 'Who told you that you were naked?' " (Genesis 3:9-11).

Adam and Eve knew the ugly truth about themselves. Notice how the sin within them changed their thoughts about themselves. They thought that if they could hide from God, he wouldn't see the sin inside; their thinking was messed up because of sin. Their consciences accused them because they knew inside they had disobeyed God.

In the same way, the sin we know inside of us changes the way we think. We know the sin inside even if no one else does; our consciences accuse us. God's law makes us guilty and reminds us of all the imperfections and faults we try to hide from others.

How often we forget God's wonderful love! Jesus cared so much for us that he died in our place. In the waters of Baptism, our sins were washed away, and we were made his own dear children. As children of God, we are worth more to him than anything else in the world. First Peter 1:18,19 says, "You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."