Skip to main content

Confidence

             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.  (Hebrews 10:35-36)

          Someone posted something on social media this morning asking about our young folks having lost their faith. I answered that I don’t think the young have lost their faith. Either they never had any or they’ve moved their faith to something else. Sadly, when we “lose” faith, we may not realize what we are shifting our faith to. It could be the government, teachers, or even some vague “lack of belief” that ultimately is faith in oneself if in no other sense than that one believes one is capable of discerning when and if one encounters something in which one can have faith.

          Keep in mind that faith can be either positive or negative. You can have complete faith that someone who has murdered several times will murder again. You can have faith that the government will take care of you and solve your problems, or that it won’t. I recommend the latter.

          In today’s passage, we aren’t told to not lose our faith. We’re told not to throw away our confidence. Throwing something away isn’t losing something. Losing something means you can look for it and find it again. If you throw something away, you know precisely where it is. You put it there deliberately. It’s an act of the will.

          The problem with having faith or confidence in anything is that confidence that lasts for 0.125 seconds isn’t worth much. Neither is a faith of 3 seconds or only 3 minutes. Oh, there may be times when we put a fire under our faith, but there’s not much sense in putting a fire under an empty pan unless we plan to put something in it soon, unless your goal is to ruin the pan. It’s only when there is faith in the “pan” that it does any good to light said fire under it.

          In a sense, this passage might be paraphrased as “Don’t throw the contents (the faith/confidence) of the pan (the thing in which you have confidence/faith) down the drain and put the pot back on the fire (your life.)” Equally, don’t throw the contents into a plastic bag and put it back on the fire.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more