Today in God's Word—September 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
September 4, Hebrews 10
She is calm while others around her are frantic. Her neighbors are flipping through notes, scanning the textbook one more time, hoping some last morsel of knowledge might be gleaned. But she is ready. Her pen is on her desk and a faint smile is on her lips as she waits for the exam booklets to be distributed. She knows the material. She is confident.
He and his teammates have worked hard. All the practice and conditioning, all the learning and repetitions have led to this moment, the one they’ve been waiting for. It’s time to stop blocking and tackling one another and start using what they’ve learned against a real opponent. They don’t really care about who’s favored to win. They’re confident.
After graduation, the confidence learned in the classroom and on the playing field continues to serve them well in the big, real world. Confidence is a valuable commodity in every job, in every business, in all of life.
Christians above all people should live with confidence about the most important part of life. Christians can have the best kind of confidence, rooted in the faithfulness and perfection of God, not in ourselves. We are confident we have access to and relationship with God by the blood of Jesus, who gave himself as a perfect, once for all offering to take away our sins. Our approach to God is not by a trail we blazed through the spiritual wilderness, but through Jesus himself, the new and living way. Because he is our faithful and great priest, we can draw near to God with true hearts that have been sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb of God.
We have put our faith in him. We encourage each other, and take the danger of sin in our lives very seriously.
We hold onto our confidence in the face of opposition and persecution. We endure whatever adversity comes, focused on the better things and the reward the Lord has promised.
If I lack such confidence, I need to realize what Jesus has done for me and trust him instead of myself. I need to surrender my life to him just as he surrendered himself to the will of God. Instead of refusing to forgive myself, I must learn to trust his promise of forgiveness. Instead of quitting and shrinking back from my confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior, I need to live out my faith. Then I can be confident. It’s not pride, or thinking more highly of myself than I should. It’s realizing the source of my forgiveness and my sanctification, and relying on him. He died and conquered death so I could live with confidence, not fear or guilt.
Are you confident? Is your confidence firmly grounded in Jesus Christ? It is your birthright as a child of God. Trust him. Obey him. Be confident in him.
Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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