"You're just a sinner saved by grace!" "you'd be nothing if it wasn't for Jesus." "Praise the Lord that he can save a wretch like me!" These are some of the sayings I grew up hearing in church. I understand that these statements are generally meant to promote how much we need God. It was pretty much the norm in the circles I grew up in. Any positive statement related to yourself was a form of pride and took away from the goodness of God. We were treating God like He was insecure about His greatness, as though our achievements might in any way threaten Him. This still affects me, to some degree, because even as I wrote that last sentence I had to back space a few times as I wrote the word "him" without capitals. After all, how would you know I was talking about "Him" unless I capitalized it. While we were so concerned with making sure that we weren't sharing in God's glory we inadvertently treated Him like His ego was fragile.
So what's the big deal? Well, for starters, God is very secure. He isn't threatened by anyone doing anything great around Him. He created us for Glory after all. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we all with unveiled face beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being changed from glory to glory. If we didn't have glory we couldn't be changed from glory to glory. If we think that honoring Him comes from downgrading ourselves then we place sole importance on what God has done for us and not on what He has accomplished in us. The good news of the gospel is not only that Jesus has taken away my sin but also that He has awakened my spirit. He has made me a new creation and the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). When I focus on how much of a failure I am, I simply perpetuate my failures. Whatever you believe, you'll reproduce. In my experience, I have accomplished more by believing what God has done in me, rather than groveling in my unworthiness. It is my belief that we need to walk in confidence as believers. Confidence is not a bad thing, in fact, the Bible exhorts us to confidence (Hebrews 10:35). It tells us not to throw away our confidence which has great reward.
Why are we so afraid of confidence? I think it's because we confuse confidence with pride. Pride does lead to destruction. Pride is all about self-promotion. When I'm operating in pride it's all about me and what I can do; everything points back to me. When I'm operating in confidence I am confident in who God has made me. The glory goes to Him as I use the gifts He has invested in me. I'm under no illusions of grandeur because I know where the greatness comes from. I believe confidence is necessary in the Christian life. I believe God intended us to be confident in the work he is accomplishing in us. He is completing the work He began in you (Phil 1:6). We can access the throne of Grace with boldness, Hebrews tells us. "But what do I do about the sin in my life?" Sin is an archery term, meaning to miss the mark. When you are an archer and you constantly miss the mark, I would think that has some negative affect on your confidence. When we focus on our unworthiness we lack confidence and actually create what we are trying to stop. Walk in confidence. Believe what God has done in you. As you do this, I believe sin will become less and less of a focus in your life.
We are seated with Christ in Heavenly places. He has given us the role of ambassadors of reconciliation. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. All these truths, in my opinion, point to one thing...we need to live in confidence.
