Confidence in God is best kind

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So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

—Hebrews 10:35

Many of us find ourselves in this new year in a confidence crisis. Another year has come and gone, and we are still fighting the same fight we were 12 months ago. We are struggling with the same issues as last January. We are bumping up against the same obstacles, battling the same demons, and cowering to the same fears that we have for weeks, months, or even years.

Whether it’s depression, addiction, guilt, anxiety, shame, bad choices, worry or something else entirely, it has zapped you of your confidence.

I’m not talking about the kind of confidence you gain from accumulating 500 friends on Facebook. Or the confidence you have when a guy notices you in your low-cut shirt. I’m also not referring to the confidence of strolling out of the boss’ office after getting that big promotion. All of those things are fleeting, momentary glimpses of earthly confidence.

I want to know how to have a God-kind of confidence. That’s what the writer of Hebrews is trying to instill in his audience. The church he is writing to isn’t so much walking away from its faith as it is weakening in that faith. The devil has been wearing it down. Like a prize fighter dealing body blows to his opponent, Satan has this church on the ropes ready to throw in the towel.

Maybe you feel the same way. Let me encourage you, “Do not throw away your confidence.”

The author is trying to establish these Christians’ confidence. I’ve discovered in life that you can lose a lot of things and get them back if you don’t lose your confidence.

The devil cannot take your calling. The Bible says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Since he cannot take your calling, he will try to take your confidence, because if he can take away your confidence he can keep you from functioning in your calling.

A Christian without confidence should be an oxymoron. The whole context of the gospel is confidence. If you don’t feel more confident after hearing the word preached, you didn’t hear it in the right context. The Good News is that you can have confidence, you can have hope, you can have assurance.

Jesus’ resurrection won the battle over sin, over fear, over your past. You can have great confidence today, not in what you can do, but in what Christ has already done.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, ‘In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’”

To hear more about confidence in Christ, join us at Realife Church beginning tonight and Sunday for a three-week message series called “Confidence Boost.” See www.realifechurch.org.

Adam Detamore is pastor of Realife Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is submitted by local clergy members.