A Christians approach to life situations part 10
Self Confidence
Having self confidence is a wonderful thing and every Christian should have it and be confident that if they are living their life for God and fighting the good fight of faith that they will have a home in heaven just as God has promised. However, self confidence can be bad when we either have low self confidence or over confidence. If we go to either one of these extremes it can cause us to fall short of serving God as we should.
First, lets take a look at a low self confidence and what problems it can cause. Our first example comes from Moses. Tell story of Moses and how he didn’t feel confident that he was the right man for the job.
Exodus 4:10 Then
Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither
before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of
speech and slow of tongue." 11
So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute,
the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? 12 "Now therefore, go, and I
will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." 13 But he said, "O my Lord,
please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." 14 So the anger of the LORD was
kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother?
I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you.
When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Discuss how we are like
this today when we make up excuses for serving God.
Next example tell story of
the 12 spies being sent out to the land of milk and honey and their lack of
confidence.
Numbers 13:30 Then
Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and
take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." 31 But the men who had gone up
with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are
stronger than we." 32
And they gave the children of
Because of their lack of
confidence they would not be allowed to enter the promise land. Having a lack
of confidence can cause us not to stand up for God or to confess him before men
which can keep us from entering into the promise land of heaven.
In 1 Sam. 13 Saul started
attacking some of the Philistines and these Philistines were now coming
together to attach the children of
1 Samuel 13:6 When
the men of
His low self confidence
caused him to sin against God and to lose his kingdom. That is what low self
confidence can do it us, it can cause us to sin against God and break his
commands.
How can we overcome low
self confidence?
1. We need to believe in
ourselves and realize that we are just as important as everyone else. One thing
that will help us to understand this is by reminding ourselves that when we
became Christians we became one with Christ and we are equal with all our
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. We need to realize
that God loves and that He will always be there for us.
3. We have a great a
advantage over non-Christians because we can draw strength and grow in
confidence knowing that we are part of God’s family. Paul explains it this way,
Philippians 4:10 But I
rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished
again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to
need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I
know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.
We can draw strength from
God by reading the Word of God because it will remind us of all the promises He
has made and how He always keeps His promises and we also learn that anytime we
are struggling with low self confidence we can always pray for help in this
area with boldness as,
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin. 16
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
Now lets take look at
being over confident and what it cause.
Genesis 11:1 Now the
whole earth had one language and one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that
they found a plain in the
These people had become
so confident that they decided they wanted to make a name for themselves and
they had left God out of their plans and God put a stop to this by confusing
their languages.
This happens today as
well. Sometimes we become over confident in our abilities and our technology
and we end up relying more on ourselves that we do God. Because of this we can
find ourselves being like these people in our example because we want to make a
name for ourselves and we leave God out of our plans. The more over confident
we become the more we push God out of lives.
Another great example
comes from our lesson last Sunday night about King Sennacherib. Remember how
over confident he was. God allowed him to conquer many foreign nations and even
destroy the northern kingdom of
Because of his over
confidence God humbled this man by sending an angle who killed 185,000 of his
men while they were sleeping and God didn’t let this king set one foot into
This is the danger of
over confidence. It can make you think that you are something great when really
are not and it if you get caught up in this type of thinking it can keep you
from stepping foot into heaven.
Another thing that over
confidence can do is deceive us and great example of this is what happened to
Peter.
Matthew 26:30 And
when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the
Peter was so confident in
his self that he thought he would never deny Jesus, but Jesus tells him that he
will. Then Peter and the disciples all claim that they will be willing to die
with Jesus.
Matthew 26:69 Now
Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying,
"You also were with Jesus of
We should never allow
ourselves to become over confident because if we do open ourselves up to fall
and to fall hard. This is why Paul tells
us to learn from the examples of those in the OT and then he says this in,
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a
haughty spirit before a fall.
When we become over
confident in ourselves we start becoming lax and we make it easy for sin to
ensnare us. As Christians we must make
sure that we always try to remain humble and not think to highly of ourselves
as Paul says in,
Romans 12:3 For I
say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God
has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
When start thinking to
highly ourselves we can even convince ourselves that we cannot sin, yet John
tells us,
1 John 1:10 If we
say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Now, lets look at some
way that we The way that we can keep ourselves from become over confident.
1. We need study our
Bible and reading about those who that thought to highly of themselves and note
what happened to them.
2. We need remind
ourselves of just how insignificant we are in comparison to God and how we
wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for Him.
If anyone had a reason to
become over confident it was the apostle Paul, but notice what helped him not
to become over confident.
2 Corinthians 12:6 For
though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the
truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to
be or hears from me. 7
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
be exalted above measure. 8
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart
from me. 9 And He said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am
weak, then I am strong.
Paul had this thorn in
his flesh, which some think may have been a problem with his eyes. Whatever it
was it kept him from becoming over confident and it reminded him daily that he
needed to rely upon the grace of God and because of that his infirmity became
something that would make his faith in God even stronger.
3. This is another tool
that we can use in our life to help us to remain humble. Every time we get sick
or we have aches and pains, let it be a constant reminder to us just how
fragile we and how our lives are like vapor that appears for a little while and
then vanishes away. If we will do this we can make sure that we don’t become
over confident in our selves.
In this lesson we have
learned that every Christian should be confident in God promise of heaven if we
live our lives for Him. However, we have to be careful that don’t have a low
self confidence or it will cause us not to serve God as we should and it cause
us sin and even keep us from making it to heaven. We also learned that over
confidence isn’t good either because it can make us think to highly of ourselves
and put God out our lives. It can also deceive us and make us fall really hard
when we do sin and it can keep us out of heaven as well. So, its important that
we maintain a healthy self confidence level by studying God’s word and learning
from the examples that we are given and realizing that we need Him and we can
trust is His promises. Finally, we should always pray to God to help us to have
a healthy self confidence level. If we will do this, then when we get to the
end of our lives we can say with confidence what Paul said at the end of his
life.
2 Timothy 4:6 For I
am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure
is at hand. 7 I have fought
the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me
the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to
me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing.