As much as

Confidence in yourself is a must-have.

I see the ads on TV for “must-have” items and they usually are for some knife that cuts through a shoe and I mean you got to have that. How could you live without a knife that can cut through a shoe? A “must-have” item in life is confidence in you. Without confidence in you, you die or at least you walk around dead. When I say “dead” I mean you have no real way of happiness or joy. However, I used to view this philosophy of walking “joyfully” as a worldly answer. I should not live for joy. I should have live to please my own happiness. However, I picked up my Bible the other night and I was reading Philippians and Paul said something like this “take care of others AS MUCH AS yourself...” Wait a minute?

Paul is saying I must take care of myself. That is lost in my philosophy. Part of taking care of me is having confidence. I “must-have” confidence in myself or I will not be about to take care of others. If I’m here to serve God and others, THEN I must take care of myself first or AS MUCH AS. Science comes to mind when I heard an IF.THEN statement and life sometimes is as simple as science, math, equations, and formulas. I wish I could simple get this equation memorized. If I do not memorize this one, I will never LIVE. PERIOD.

MEMORIZE THIS EQUATION: CONFIDENCE = GOD LOVES YOU.

Now as I flip a few pages through my Bible I read in 1 Timothy “for God did not give us a timid heart”. I should not live in fear or insecurity. I turn to Hebrews to read this, “approach God’s throne with CONFIDENCE”. God wants us to come to him in confidence and God wants us to live with CONFIDENCE.

TO WALK WITH CONFIDENCE.

“to not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ”.

Paul even says “I am nothing without Christ”. Paul says “I’m the worst of sinners”. I, too, am a sinner. However, I also hurt God when I live a timid life, when I live in fear of others, when I walk in shame, and when I live WITHOUT confidence in me.

When Peter walks out on the water he wants to be like Jesus. He is being a good disciple. A disciple “DOES WHAT THE RABBI DOES”. Peter is doing right. He walks on water as Jesus does. Then Peter sees the wind and waves and doubts HIMSELF. Jesus asks him “why did you doubt?” Jesus is saying PETER DON”T DOUBT YOURSELF I HAVE FAITH IN YOU. I love the fact we have faith in God, but guess what? God has faith in YOU and ME and US. God calls us to be his disciple and “DO WHAT HE DOES”.

THAT IS WHERE CONFIDENCE COMES FROM. Confidence comes from being a follower of Christ.

"FOR WE KNOW AND RELY ON THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR US." John 4:16