Last night I watched a stage filled with students performing a musical. They were terrific! They hit their cues, delivered their lines, and sang their hearts out on some really difficult music. I loved their confidence and because I know one of the cast members well, I knew that performance was shaped by hours of training and a director who coached them to competence. They were convinced before they set foot on that stage that they were ready, that they could do it!
Are you a Christian who lives with a holy confidence, who is prepared to meet the challenges of life as a joyful person? Or, perhaps, do you feel confused, or lost, or alone? When you pray do you “approach the Throne of grace with confidence… finding grace in time of need” as the writer of Hebrews says?
We need not wander or wander! We need not struggle to find our footing each day as a Christian IF we know the core of our hope, secure in the love and goodness of God through Christ Jesus. Paul wrote to us urging us to look beyond the approval of others, to find our security in a place higher than the commendation of people.
“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. … Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-12 NIV)
Our Christian hope rests squarely on Jesus’ death and Resurrection. He has provided complete reconciliation with our Creator God. His gift to us is the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and makes us ‘competent as minister (servants)” of a whole new way of life based in God’s promises. This, dear friend, is transformational truth!
Moses, the one-time prince of Egypt, left the palace after killing a man, ran off to the wilderness and disappeared into obscurity, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, for 40 years! Then, at the time when the people of Israel needed a leader God knew the right man for the job. He met Moses at a “burning bush” in the desert. Moses’ attention was captured because though the bush was aflame, it was not burning up.
God spoke to that failed prince, now an obscure shepherd, and called him to return to Egypt and deliver his people from slavery, leading them to the land of promise.
So did Moses say, "Great! When do I start?" That is not the way it went. He grasped the apparent impossibility of the job, looked at his resume which included murder and flight to avoid prosecution, and asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”(Exodus 3:11, NIV) In the dialogue with the Lord he points out his inability and God answers, not by reminding him of his charisma, intelligence, education, or court access.
God says to Moses
-I'll be with you! … "The LORD said to him, “Now go; I will help you
speak and will teach you what to say." (Exodus 4:12, NIV)
News flash! God has a calling for you and me, too.
Paul says that we are ministers of grace, given a message of reconciliation, and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. We bring God’s light to dark places. We lead those who are captives under Satan's deception into truth. Yes, like Paul, we say, "Follow me as I follow Christ." (1Corinthians 11:1) Sounds like a job that is bigger than me or you, doesn’t it? It is! That is why Paul’s words from that text we read a moment ago ring so true – “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves.”
If we look only to our training or our natural abilities as a qualification for living the Christian life, if we try to find confidence in our own goodness, if we attempt to gain boldness through degrees, titles, or accomplishment- we will falter, feeling fearful.
That is why we look to Christ Jesus, putting our full faith in His work on our behalf, accepting the gift of grace that we could never earn, and opening our mind and heart to the Spirit who will make us competent as ministers of a new covenant!
He is what we can never be on our own.”
He loves us where we are, as we are, and invites us to find the purposes of
God.
In Him there is ‘life to the full!’ (John 10.10)
Here is a word from Word. Pray it. Own it. Secure yourself in this truth and then go live in holy boldness today! "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. . .. who is equal to such a task? . . . Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. … Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 2,3)
Humbly thank God, the Holy Spirit, for empowering you for
the task, then just do it.
I have walked with Him, served Him for many years, and I am still filled with
wonder about what He has done in my life. I pray you know that wonder, too!
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