"Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence" 1Corinthians 10:12, .
No human being is infallible. As they say, 'to err is human'. Apart from the fact that we have made mistakes in the past, we must know that we are still capable of making further mistakes in the future regardless of how well we have developed our character and perfected our skills. The bottom line is that whatever our status and placement in life, we all need the help of God to keep us from committing errors and to stay out of trouble.
There are two quick conclusions that must be drawn from this. First, we must learn to have compassion for those who fall into error or are overtaken by sin. We should not be judgmental toward them knowing that we ourselves are not completely immuned from those errors. Neither should we laugh at the misfortune of others, for the failures of our fellow men are in many cases indicative of our own personal failings and may sometimes have even resulted directly therefrom. For example, perhaps the brother that fell into sin could have escaped the enemy's trap if you had been alive to your responsibility of praying for him.
But more important to me today is the need to manage our confidence style. As our Bible verse today tells us, there is self confidence and there is God confidence. To be confident is good and needful in order to attain and sustain success in life. But the confidence that will not fail you is the confidence that rests on the almighty God.
Some put their confidence in what they have - their wealth, occult powers, beauty or strength. Others in who they think they have - their friends in high places, influential uncles, rich lovers or some other form of connections. Others still have their confidence resting on who they think they are, whether as presidents, governors, army generals or even bishops. But they all get disappointed from time to time because of the imperfections of the human nature, its relationships and institutions. The tides could turn any time and the rich today could become poor tomorrow, presidents could be impeached, generals dismissed, beauty destroyed by an accident or life itself snuffed out of the man. That is why any type of self-confidence is indeed useless.
However, when you develop God-confidence, your trust is on a sure foundation, your hope is on a solid rock that will not waver and your expectation of living above errors is justifiably realistic. For they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever. Let us therefore consider how we might develop personal confidence in the God of heaven and earth. God willing, I hope to share some helpful tips along that line in days to come.
Shalom!
No human being is infallible. As they say, 'to err is human'. Apart from the fact that we have made mistakes in the past, we must know that we are still capable of making further mistakes in the future regardless of how well we have developed our character and perfected our skills. The bottom line is that whatever our status and placement in life, we all need the help of God to keep us from committing errors and to stay out of trouble.
There are two quick conclusions that must be drawn from this. First, we must learn to have compassion for those who fall into error or are overtaken by sin. We should not be judgmental toward them knowing that we ourselves are not completely immuned from those errors. Neither should we laugh at the misfortune of others, for the failures of our fellow men are in many cases indicative of our own personal failings and may sometimes have even resulted directly therefrom. For example, perhaps the brother that fell into sin could have escaped the enemy's trap if you had been alive to your responsibility of praying for him.
But more important to me today is the need to manage our confidence style. As our Bible verse today tells us, there is self confidence and there is God confidence. To be confident is good and needful in order to attain and sustain success in life. But the confidence that will not fail you is the confidence that rests on the almighty God.
Some put their confidence in what they have - their wealth, occult powers, beauty or strength. Others in who they think they have - their friends in high places, influential uncles, rich lovers or some other form of connections. Others still have their confidence resting on who they think they are, whether as presidents, governors, army generals or even bishops. But they all get disappointed from time to time because of the imperfections of the human nature, its relationships and institutions. The tides could turn any time and the rich today could become poor tomorrow, presidents could be impeached, generals dismissed, beauty destroyed by an accident or life itself snuffed out of the man. That is why any type of self-confidence is indeed useless.
However, when you develop God-confidence, your trust is on a sure foundation, your hope is on a solid rock that will not waver and your expectation of living above errors is justifiably realistic. For they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever. Let us therefore consider how we might develop personal confidence in the God of heaven and earth. God willing, I hope to share some helpful tips along that line in days to come.
Shalom!
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