How cool is that! Don't throw away your confidence! God wants us to be bold in our decisions. He tells us here to not look back. We're not supposed to second-guess ourselves. We're not supposed to walk super gently and have to think through every word before we say it. He tells us through these words that we are to be confident! But what does confidence look like? Are you a confident person? I'm reminded of the bible story of Lot and his wife. God said don't look back! So what did she do? She looked back! Then came the punishment - she was seized in her steps, well literally she turned into a pillar of salt but I think the image we should get is that living in the past, always looking over our shoulder prevents us from moving forward! Confidence is thinking and praying through a decision before you make it, then moving forward and not being super apologetic about it.
Martin Luther said some pretty neat words somewhere in one of his writings - sin boldly! I love that. It means that we are to be so moved by the power of Christ that we're going to run headlong into any situation and give it our all. If it ends up being the wrong decision, we'll know. It will be brutally obvious! If it's the right one we'll find that out too. The challenge is are we running headlong or are we just sissy-footing our way into something. Often we move into a new situation or make a big decision and then the result isn't what we hoped it would be. The problem is - we didn't move in with confidence!
I'm thinking of many of my own decisions right now and wondering if I moved with confidence. I've often pulled the plug on a new idea because it wasn't going right, only to find out that it failed because I didn't give it everything I should have given it! What problems are you facing right now? What challenges are present in your life today? Take a second, and not much longer than that, and think about it - did you give it everything you had available to you? Did you move forward with confidence and total commitment? Did you pour every available resource into this new venture?
If the answer is "no" to any of the questions above, then chances are it's not God telling you to quit. It's more a lack of your own confidence that God is big enough to make it happen! Think about confidence in this way for a minute: while we were sinners Christ died for us. If Jesus would not been confident and committed to doing whatever it took to forgive us for our sins, then it wouldn't have worked! If Jesus didn't go headlong right into the wall of death and pay our penalty for us, then we would be in a hopeless situation. If God would have pulled the plug on the decision to save the world after the flood event, we wouldn't be here!
Paul says to move with confidence! Give it your all! Don't look back! And you will be richly rewarded! You will receive a rich reward when you move with confidence. So pray today, and do it with confidence that he'll hear and answer you! Read the bible today, and do it with confidence that he wrote those words just for you! Live today, and do it unapologetically with faith in your Savior Jesus! Live with a crazy and confident faith, knowing that God is bigger than anything you get yourself into. Today is the day that God made just for you - live it with the confidence that comes from knowing Jesus is surrounding you in all you do today.
Jesus, we tend to be pretty weak sometimes. We have a tendency to ask of you in prayer and then back away as if we've asked something wrong. You tell us to have confidence. So today Lord, we pray that you clear up the bad choices we've made. We pray that you give us the confidence to live by faith today and not by fear. Thank you for your confident sacrifice for us. Now lead us to live confident in your promises! AMEN.
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