“If your confidence is in yourself, eventually that confidence will be tested and found wanting. Some of you know what I’m talking about, because once you got by on self-confidence just fine. That worked great for you, until the day of the big confidence test.”- Kyle Idleman
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”- Hebrews 10:19-20 (NIV)
Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 10 of Don’t Give Up as he discusses the second way we throw away our confidence, become discouraged, and lose heart,
2. Confusing confidence. Here we confuse confidence in ourselves with confidence in Christ. Furthermore, Pastor Idleman observes, we find this confusion especially prevalent in the Western world. Because the Western world disciples us in the school of self-confidence.
However, at some point, someone or something exposes our self-confidence. As a result, that forces us to admit we don’t have what it takes. In addition, Kyle asserts, failure destroys your self-confidence the most. The author explains:
“When you fail, it’s hard to get that out of your mind the next time you try. If you didn’t succeed the last time, it’s much harder to find the courage to do it the next time. Spiritually, this is true as well. If our confidence is in ourselves, we may start the race strong, but after a few falls on the track, our failures start to take their toll.
Hebrews repeatedly makes the case that our courage doesn’t come from a confidence in ourselves or in our words. Our confidence is not in what we’ve done, but what has been done on our account.”
So, how can we fear when Jesus, as high priest, cleanses us and gives us new strength? He made a way for us.
Today’s question: What happened on the day of your big confidence test? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “When God strips away the illusions”
