Somewhere along the way, we’ve decided that confidence and arrogance are interchangeable terms. However, that’s simply not the case. While Christ taught extensively on the importance of humility, His version of humility doesn’t mean that we walk around with a broken view of ourselves. Instead, God wants us to have confidence. However, the true Source of our confidence is meant to be found in Him, not in ourselves. Understanding how to overcome our own insecurities through Christ-based confidence is vital.
Confidence is a tricky thing. Without it, you’re insecure about everything, convinced that nothing you ever say or do is good enough. With too much of it, you come across as arrogant and egotistical, which leads to an overinflated sense of self-worth and damaged relationships. As Christians, we’ve often been taught that having any amount of confidence is wrong, and that humility is the same thing as believing that we are largely worthless. Perhaps the most dangerous thing about these two versions of the truth about confidence is that neither of them are right. Taking either of these approaches to confidence puts us in a position to suffer serious consequences.
As God’s children, it’s important that we understand how confidence really works. God does not want you to develop an attitude of self-hate. Afterall, He loved you so much that He gave His only Son so that you could be in an eternal relationship with Him. That act of love should tell you that you are incredibly valuable. However, our source of confidence doesn’t come from our own looks, talents, skills, and aptitude. Instead, our confidence is grounded in who God says we are in His Word.
All of us have insecurities. All of us have a few things about ourselves that we would love to change if we could. However, we can overcome those insecurities by allowing our worth, our very identity, to be rooted in who God says we are.
Breaking Free
John 8:36 (ESV)
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
The word “indeed” here means “clearly, cleanly, and absolutely.” Take a moment and reread that verse with those words at the end. If the Son sets you free, you will be free clearly, cleanly, and absolutely. But what will you be free from? Some translations say that if the Son sets you free from sin, you will be free indeed. While that’s certainly true, the fact that Christ left the concept of freedom open means that we can apply it to anything that holds us captive.
You can’t be set free until you identify the lie that is holding you in bondage. In keeping with the topic at hand, our insecurities have the ability to keep us firmly entrenched in a state of perpetual bondage.
Insecurities tell us that the things about our lives that aren’t perfect are so potent that they can prevent us from ever reaching our potential. In some cases, insecurities tell us that we don’t’ even have potential. That’s simply not the case.
The Bible teaches us that before God ever formed us in our mother’s wombs, He had a purpose for us (Jeremiah 1:5). Ask yourself this: would God have a specially designed purpose for someone who had nothing to offer? Of course not! If everything He made is good, and He made you, you can rest assured that you have plenty of good traits.
One of the greatest things that we can ever experience freedom from is the lie that tells us that we’re not enough. God didn’t send His Son to die for people who He didn’t see as enough. Even if you aren’t flawless in every area of your life, you are enough, and you bring plenty to the table.
Identity Crisis
1 Corinthians 15:10 (ESV)
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Long before Paul was writing the letters that would become roughly 67% of the New Testament, he was living a strictly religious life. Paul’s identity was found in his religious traditions instead of in a relationship with Jesus Christ. During this era of his life, when his name was Saul instead of Paul, he not only executed arrest warrants on members of the early Church, but he even oversaw the murder of early church leaders.
If anyone had a right to be insecure about his identity, it was Paul. Afterall, with the things that he had done in his life, was there really any hope for him to have a new identity? Absolutely! Years after his conversion, Paul said that it was by God’s grace that he was what he was.
What if we adopted that sort of mindset? What if instead of letting our past be the source of our identity, we allowed God’s current view of who we are identify us? Paul could have walked around for the rest of his days saying that he was a murderer, a blasphemer, and a persecutor. However, he understood that on the day he accepted Christ as his Savior, that he received a new identity.
What you’ve done is not who you are. If we’re being honest, all of us would like to go back and rewrite (or delete) some chapters of our lives. However, those past shortcomings don’t have to be the source of who we are today. You are not an addict, a divorcee, a liar, or a cheat. You are a child of God.
By God’s grace, you are what you are today. Your identity is not found in your past. Instead, it is found in God’s version of your future. Child of God, rest in the fact that God’s grace has made you what you are, and that everything His grace makes is good.
Choosing the Right Voice
John 10:27-29 (TPT)
My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me. I give to them the gift of eternal life and they will never be lost and no one has the power to snatch them out of my hands. My Father, who has given them to me as his gift, is the mightiest of all, and no one has the power to snatch them from my Father’s care.
All of us are subject to the voices that we hear. No, this isn’t a reference to a mental illness that causes us to hear voices. Instead, it’s a statement about the internal battle that all of us continually face that determines how we view ourselves.
According to Jesus, everything that Satan says is a lie. In John 8:44, Jesus went so far as to say that Satan was the “father of lies” and that lying was his “native tongue.” Do you know any pathological liars? There are some people who just can’t help themselves. Everything they say is a totally fictional version of whatever they’re trying to talk about. If you know someone like this, how much stock do you put in what they tell you? Probably not much. Why? Because they’re liars!
In the same vein, everything Satan tells us is a lie. When he tells you that you’re not worthy, you can rest assured that it’s not true. When he tells you that you’re not good enough to advance in life, it’s a lie. When he tells you that no one cares about you, it’s a lie. Every word that comes out of his evil, wicked, vile mouth is a lie. Why would you listen to a voice like that?
Conversely, everything God says to us is truth. God not only says that you good enough, but He says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). God tells you that you have been made worthy through the sacrifice of His Son (John 3:16). God’s Word is full of truths about you.
Since we know that everything that God says about us true (He cannot lie according to Hebrews 6:18), we can find the true version of our identity in His Word. Make sure that you’re only listening to the voice of Truth. When we’re selective about the voice that we listen to, we can rest assured that we’re only believing the truth about ourselves, and confidence is the natural product.
Our confidence is not rooted in what we are and what we do. Instead, it’s based on what God says about us. Be confident, child of God! You belong to Him.
A Closing Prayer:
God, please help me to move past my insecurities. Help me to find my identity in You and rest in the truths that You proclaim about me. In Christ’s name, Amen.