“Now we have such confidence through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient from ourselves to reckon anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” (2 Cor. 3:4-5)
Christian confidence is closely tied to our Christian conviction. I would even posit one cannot have Christian confidence without having true Christian conviction. However, one can have Christian conviction and lack in Christian confidence. When we lack in confidence in the Lord, it will splinter into our practical day to day interactions and relationships.
Have you ever been approached by a skeptic in which they had a convincing argument of why Christianity is not true? And, you, being a believer did not have much of an answer because of a lack of confidence to argue the truthfulness of Christianity? Of course, not one man/woman holds the monopoly of knowledge and understanding when it comes to Christianity. However, it is imperative that we grow in our understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Tim. 3:15). Indeed, we should not grow in knowledge to just win arguments but to apply what we learn to sharpen our character and resolve.
One person whose work ethic I admired was Kobe Bryant. He studied the game. He worked extremely hard. Meditated on the game and had the heart of a champion. He prepared himself and his teammates to have a winning no quit attitude. He was extremely confident on the basketball court.
If Kobe worked as hard as he did to have the confidence to win on the basketball court, how should we be as Christian’s when it comes to the court of life? The best way to grow in confidence in the Lord is by spending QUALITY time with him. As Paul would say, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly” (1 Tim 4:7; Philippians 2:12). In other words, stop wasting your time on things that are meaningless but invest your time in the things of God. Spend time in His Word and meditate on it (Josh.1:8). Be diligent in prayer (Ephesians 6:18), constantly building yourself up in hearing the Word (Romans 10:17), and crucifying the flesh. If you are diligent in disciplining yourself in these matters you will gradually grow in your confidence in the Lord.
