It has been a long, seemingly never-ending, battle for me to feel confident. We all struggle with confidence in different areas, some more than others (let’s just say I have been part of the “some”). In the past, I’ve searched everywhere for it; in eating and exercise disorders, in relationships, in my own achievements and work.
None of these ways have lasted. Honestly, I felt less confident with every passing day I spent in the chase of confidence in myself.
Because confidence cannot come from me.
I will no longer strive to be confident in myself. Instead, I will be confident in my Maker, the only perfect One. I will be confident in His love that carries me. I will be confident in the words He speaks to me. I will place my confidence in God, a confidence that will not fail me, a confidence so different from the kind that this world tells me I need.
The confidence that is displayed and spoken about in scripture all leads back to Christ. It is directly entwined with His love for us and His unfailing hope. The confidence we have is in the fact that we are His and that we will be with Him forevermore.
We can even be confident in our weakest parts, because Christ’s strength is shown great in them. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
How beautiful it is to know that even the flaws and failures I see in myself can bring about this kind of beauty!
Along with this, the Bible frequently reminds us that our confidence cannot be put in the flesh, for our flesh is fleeting and failing.
To anyone reading this and struggling with self-doubt, I promise you that whatever you are doing to try to feel confident in yourself, it will not last the way the confidence we find in Christ does. So I want to change my goal from being confident in myself to being confident in Christ. Let those former words never slip from my lips.
I don’t need to search anymore. I know where my hope and where my confidence comes from.
Proverbs 3:26
"For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught."
