“This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.” Ephesians 3:11-12
I recently attended an absolutely amazing wedding – the kind of wedding that will not soon, if ever, be forgotten. There was incredible beauty in each and every detail, great times were had by all, and countless pictures were taken. Although I took nearly one hundred pictures throughout the day, there were still others who captured moments that I missed. As we all began sharing our pictures on various forms of social media, something struck me. Most of these pictures had groups of people in them. However, each time I came across a photo that I was in, instead of taking in the entire shot, my eyes focused in immediately on myself. Before even glancing at the other faces that surrounded me, I was set on finding each and every flaw or slight imperfection in myself. I think if I polled a crowd, most if not all would also say that they tend to look first at themselves before scanning the entire picture.
While this is a very simple and perhaps generalized example, there is a truth to be found here. We live in a world that is obsessed with self and is constantly feeding us the doctrine of the importance of self-confidence. As I read through Paul’s message to the church in Ephesus again today, the single word that leaps off of the page at me more than the rest is “confidence.” Through Christ, we have been given direct access to God. If we are in Christ, we are no longer separated from God because His Spirit lives within us. There is no human being that needs to intercede for us because Christ is our intercessor. This should give us confidence, not in ourselves, but rather in Christ.
There are great differences between what the world would deem as wisdom and what God’s Word defines wisdom as. The world tells us that we must love ourselves. Jesus told us to first love Him and to then love others. The world tells us that we deserve all or most of the things that we want. Jesus tells us that while we don’t deserve grace, we have been freely given it. The world tells us that we need to be confident in ourselves in order to succeed in life. Jesus tells us to be confident in Him, and our reward will be in the next life. If we, as followers of Christ, could embrace a new mentality that says, “More of you, Jesus, and less of me,” we would see a decrease in self-confidence and an increase in Christ-confidence.
As I write these very words, my heart is heavy for someone I love very much that is trapped in a place of self-condemnation. While this person believes in God, there is also this warped belief present that causes them to feel that before they can come to God, they must clean up their act first. If they aren’t self-confident, then they can’t come at all. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we have been given free access to God at any time, and we can come to Him with confidence – not a self-confidence in all that we have done or can do for God, but rather a Christ-confidence in all that Jesus has already done for us.
I imagine that many, if not all, come to the pages of Scripture with me today battling some form of insecurity or lack of confidence. Hear this truth today that will usher freedom into your soul. The confidence that you lack and you are desperately looking for is found in one place.
In Christ alone.
In Christ alone, we have been given access to God. Therefore, we can possess confidence in all things. He is in us. He is for us. He is with us. Remember this, and walk in the Christ-confidence that you’ve been given.
Cherie, thanks for this reminder and encouragement. I confess I too look at myself first in a picture but what stuck out was when you said “I was set on finding each and every flaw or imperfection in myself”. It is sad that most of us do this. I will remember this the next time I look at a group photo. God bless you!