HUMBLE CONFIDENCE

Some people would not put those two words together.  Humlity, to them, means thinking less of yourself, but it really means thinking of yourself less!  An humble person can have radiant confidence when it’s based on the adequacy of Christ.  And confidence has to do with assurance and poise, even the attitude “I can do it” which Christ gives.

Paul believed it saying, “We dare to say these good things about ourselves only because of our great trust in God through Christ, that he will help us to be true to what we say, and not because we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success comes from God.” (II Corinthians 3:4-5, TLB)

Those words are the perfect example of what I mean by humble confidence.  There is neither pride nor self-pity.  “From his fullness we have received grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)  That’s the source and the secret of this humble confidence.  So that, in Jesus Christ there is an inexhaustible fullness to enable us to live a life that is not only winsome but actually wins.  As Paul said, “not because we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves …”  That is a settled issue, for Jesus said plainly, “… without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5), and nothing means nothing of value.

But in that fullness those who are His shall find things once thought impossible, humanly speaking, become simple, everyday events.  Spurgeon once said in a sermon, “In Christ ye are rich to the fulness of riches; get ye up, I pray you, to the high places, and realize for yourselves the fullness of God in Christ Jesus.”  In Christ Jesus, we must never forget that “God, the Father, was pleased that in him should all the fullness dwell” (Colossians 1:19).  Major Ian Thomas loved to say, “Allow Him to be all that He is, in all that you are, all for God’s glory!”  That is possible for all of us.

It is not misguided to say:  if we have Jesus alive in us, we have a super-abundant force available to us making it possible for us to have God-given ability that we would not even be aware or even remember anything of our own efforts.  I pray that anyone who reads these words will come to know this truth and believe that there is a fullness in Christ which is able to make the impoverished into the invincible, changing cringing cowards into conquerors with crowns.

Notice again, “it pleased God” to give Christ this fullness, and God is just as pleased when Christ now gives to us that same fullness.  Notice then this significant question, “how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)  To say it even more simply; therefore, will He not also assuredly give us everything we need from His fullness?  As we consider all of this, cannot we come to believe that God will, through the fullness of Christ undertake to provide a constant supply of all we need for all we face?

Ambition is often a misguided passion, but not when it relates to our life in Christ and what He can do through us.  In Christ’s fullness we can know the highest peaks of being made adequate and experiencing the full measure of success.  That is available to us because Christ enjoys making us more than conquerors!  There is such a thing as sacred ambition, and we see that with an incredible degree of success in service as we receive “grace on grace.”

Holy ambition means we understand what it is to have Christ’s fullness available to us.  We then confess, I long to do ten times more for His glory.  After all, Christ never out-promised Himself and He will do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or even think. (read Ephesians 3:20, II Corinthians 9:8)

Is it enough to provoke you and me to have greater confidence in what God intends to do through us?  How it would honor Him if He saw you and me with a keen eye looking out for spiritual breakthroughs and even miracles!  What we should come to is a place where we expect great things.  And with that in mind, people who know that fullness attempt greater things than they ever thought possible.  After all, the Lord goes before His people! (read Psalm 68:7)

Certainly we don’t think God is honored to have His own sitting on a dunghill of defeat as pitiful beggars.  How could that honor God?  He wants each of us to realize and appreciate the fullness of Christ as the dynamic for fulfilling God’s purpose for us.  And you know as well as I do, seldom has the world seen someone living with humble confidence, confessing, “for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.” (Philippians 4:13, Living Bible)

There is no greater need today than letting people see that the One once crucified and now risen empowers His people and is very much alive in them.  What could be more significant than that?  Showing people in real life that a Christ-like lifestyle is a realistic possibility because Christ indwells their life and empowers their service; that would bring Him a glory as people see Christ alive in you.  What impact could that have?  People who not only say it but live confessing, “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (I John 4:4)

So then, think of each of allowing Him to fully occupy us and then to continually overwhelm us with Himself.  We all can live in absolute and unconditional availability to “all that He is, in all that we are.”  And that would certainly be a life completely revolutionized by Christ.  People could not help but take notice.  And soon someone will say, probably in a whisper to another person, “Christ lives in him or her.”  And it will be true!

“Christianity is the total commitment of all I know about me to all I know about Him.” William Temple