In life, we tell people the way to be successful is to believe in yourself. We say. “Don’t doubt. Have confidence in yourself.” We’ve learned that when Henry Ford was right when he said, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” A lot of success in life comes from being self confident. If you believe in yourself, others will too. Self- confidence is contagious and people want to be around others who are confident.
I looked up the definition of self- confident, and bing.com says, “Trusting in one’s ability, qualities, and judgement.” In many areas of life, that’s a good thing. In our Christian life, being self-confident is a bad thing. Salvation isn’t earned by what you do, it’s only through what Jesus has already done. Your abilities have no say on whether you get it or not. It’s only through humbly asking the One who paid the price for your sin to apply His grace to your life.
When it comes to living like a Christian, so many of us think it’s just a matter of will power. We think we can force ourselves to live right. Ben Franklin tried that. He kept a daily journal of his sins so he could focus on them and thereby not do them anymore. What he found was when he corrected one, he ended up doing another. He ended up getting frustrated trying to live a good life on his own.
In Romans 7, Paul wrote about trying to live the Christian life in your own ability. In verses 21 and 24, he summed it up this way, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (NLT) He couldn’t do it and neither can we. The life we are called to live can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In I Corinthians 10:12, Paul wrote, “Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence” (MSG). We can’t live the life we are called to live in our own abilities, qualities, and judgement. It’s only through God’s, that we can be successful. If we continue to try to live it in our own, we will be miserable like Paul was until we learn to live this life like he did through the Holy Spirit’s ability. Cultivate your God-confidence when it comes to living righteously and you will be successful.
I encourage you to read Romans 8 where Paul goes into more depth about living a Spirit-led life.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 