Confidence is not based on having everything you need to take care of yourself. Confidence is based on the truth that our great God is faithful!
Would you best be described as confident or shy? Perhaps we all carry some of both characteristics depending on the setting. Sometimes we might take confidence in our natural abilities. In other times we might rely on what we have learned from teachers, books, or experiences. We might try to take confidence in our finances, our families, or our friends. But which of these give us confidence to approach Almighty God? By what means do we have the right to enter His presence?
Jesus said, “I am the way” (John 14:6). He is the living way God opened for us to come directly to Him. He is the way for hearts to be cleansed and to be filled with the confidence and assurance that faith brings.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
How do we respond to such a profound and gracious gift? With a half-hearted, luke-warm heart that occasionally offers perfunctory sacrifices when it is convenient? No. Recognizing the supreme value of such a gift would reduce the most ardent of believers to fall face down in worship and to devote their lives humbly and completely to their God, holding ever so firmly to the faith that draws them closer to Him.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)
What hope do you profess? Is it a hope that you can hold to unswervingly? Hope in our own efforts and smarts and hope in everything of this world disappoints. But there is a hope that we can hold unswervingly to. It is hope offered by the one who promised and is faithful, the one who never ever abandons you. It is the hope that brings a ‘new and living way’ to live beyond yourself, to encourage others and spur them also on toward love and good deeds.
In the depths of your despair, in the darkness of your pain and sorrow, in the confusion of your anxiety, cling unswervingly to the hope that God your Father offers to His children. Accept the way Jesus offers into the presence of God right now. And hold on to the confidence that is based on the truth that God is faithful.