Confidence

What does it mean to have confidence?

            That’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot, lately. When you say the word “confidence”, you normally think of that super-athletic dude who isn’t afraid to just walk up to a random girl, tell her she’s beautiful, and get her number. Or maybe you think of that incredibly beautiful girl who isn’t afraid to say whatever comes to her mind, no matter what. Maybe it’s that friend who seems to be able to get along with anyone because they can turn any situation into a joke.

            But what does it really mean? Is confidence just an underlying belief that we can do something? Is it believing that we are naturally great? Most importantly – how in the world can we even have confidence?

            I think that the reason that “confident” people stand out so much is because they’re the exceptions to the rule. They seem to lack the insecurities that we all foster – about our looks, or the way we speak, or how we dress. From the outside looking in, they seem perfect, because it doesn’t look like they’re scared.

            I’d kill to be able to not be scared.

            My problem is this: the way to attain confidence seems to be to look at oneself and say “Yeah, you’re something.” But I don’t see “something” when I look in the mirror. I see a sad, broken, pudgy, weak, and failing little man. There is nothing there in which I can put my confidence. The mirror offers me no hope.

            And that’s because the mirror was never meant to offer us hope.

            Anyone who is truly “confident” in themselves is bound for a nasty shock. The fact of the matter is, man is universally broken. Not just sorta broken, but broken beyond anything we could ever fix. Scripture tells us that “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:12)  Sin has invaded and corrupted every area of mortal life. In the same way that we will most assuredly be disappointed by putting our confidences in money, love, or power, so will we be utterly let down if we allow ourselves to hope in ourselves.

            So, what then? Do we wallow in self-pity? Do we beat ourselves over the heads with wooden boards to remind ourselves how pitiful we are?

            No. There is, in fact, confidence for us. There is confidence that is far, far greater than confidence placed in ourselves. Man will fail. This is a guarantee of his own nature. But, by the same token, God will never fail. He is literally incapable of it.

            This God has taken worthless vessels of wrath and transformed them into worthy vessels of His own righteousness. This is where our confidence comes from – not that we are intrinsically worthy, but that we have been given worth. We have been turned into things of value. And nothing can ever take that worth away.

            This God has also promised to work all things together for our good – we, who are called according to His purpose. And, because we know that He is a God who cannot lie, we can confidently wait for the fulfillment of our hope with patience. We can be assured that His plans are, in fact, better than our own – even when they don’t mean our immediate happiness.

            So, what does it mean to have true confidence? It is to know that God is God. That is to say, that our God is absolute ruler over earth and heaven, time and space. He is not distant; He is not indecisive. He is not merely God when we feel that He is God. He is not even God because we believe He is God. He is God because He is God. He is the only true God, who never slumbers or sleeps, and who watches over and cares for His children perfectly.

            Our confidence is the confidence of a child in his father – and we have a perfect Father.

            “Know that the LORD, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His! We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” – Psalm 100:3