4 We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. 6 He
has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant
not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in
death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
Self-esteem. Self-confidence. These are two words that get thrown around a lot in our culture. And for the non-Believer, they are as good as we can get -- feeling good about ourselves because of ourselves and who we are -- but that's a lie. We are nothing in and of ourselves. That's where our society has gone wrong, just like many societies before us. We begin to see ourselves as god-like, having the ability to change ourselves, having value because of how great we are, and being the main instrument for change in the world. But for the Believer, there is something given to us that is so much deeper, longer-lasting, and of intensely greater worth: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As the verses above remind us, our confidence comes from God through Christ. We know that we are not qualified to do anything on our own, but yet God, in His infinite love for these beings He created, gave us a way to be connected to Him, to escape death, to live a purposeful and fulfilling life on this earth by living the exciting way God intends, and to help others do the same. The God of the Universe gave that ability to us. It is because of absolutely nothing that we've done for ourselves. It's all because of Him.
Now, naturally, you'd think that when you really begin to see yourself for who we really are: value-less, sinful, selfish people whose hearts are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9), you begin to feel pretty low...not confident, not of worth at all, and it doesn't feel very good, so people don't like to go there. But, my dear friends, we cannot understand what we gain until we know how much we don't have! As the above verses say, the Law (all those rules) remind us how far we are from perfect...just look at the Ten Commandments, let alone all 613 laws in the OT! As hard as we try, we will never be perfect or justified by ourselves...
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. Jeremiah 10:12
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:15
But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 1 Cor. 12:24-25
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us... 2 Cor. 7:6
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Hebrews 3:4
They (our parents) disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. Hebrews 12:10
...Yes, we were nothing. But God...But God chose to teach us, to get involved with us, to save us from our own sin, to teach us how to love best, to give us strength when we are weak, to give us a Church where we can show the world what it looks like to live according to God's design, to die for us. It is only because of God that we have any worth, any direction, any hope for today and tomorrow.
He is the reason I have confidence...and it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him.
Self-esteem. Self-confidence. These are two words that get thrown around a lot in our culture. And for the non-Believer, they are as good as we can get -- feeling good about ourselves because of ourselves and who we are -- but that's a lie. We are nothing in and of ourselves. That's where our society has gone wrong, just like many societies before us. We begin to see ourselves as god-like, having the ability to change ourselves, having value because of how great we are, and being the main instrument for change in the world. But for the Believer, there is something given to us that is so much deeper, longer-lasting, and of intensely greater worth: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As the verses above remind us, our confidence comes from God through Christ. We know that we are not qualified to do anything on our own, but yet God, in His infinite love for these beings He created, gave us a way to be connected to Him, to escape death, to live a purposeful and fulfilling life on this earth by living the exciting way God intends, and to help others do the same. The God of the Universe gave that ability to us. It is because of absolutely nothing that we've done for ourselves. It's all because of Him.
Now, naturally, you'd think that when you really begin to see yourself for who we really are: value-less, sinful, selfish people whose hearts are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9), you begin to feel pretty low...not confident, not of worth at all, and it doesn't feel very good, so people don't like to go there. But, my dear friends, we cannot understand what we gain until we know how much we don't have! As the above verses say, the Law (all those rules) remind us how far we are from perfect...just look at the Ten Commandments, let alone all 613 laws in the OT! As hard as we try, we will never be perfect or justified by ourselves...
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. Jeremiah 10:12
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:15
But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 1 Cor. 12:24-25
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us... 2 Cor. 7:6
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Hebrews 3:4
They (our parents) disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. Hebrews 12:10
...Yes, we were nothing. But God...But God chose to teach us, to get involved with us, to save us from our own sin, to teach us how to love best, to give us strength when we are weak, to give us a Church where we can show the world what it looks like to live according to God's design, to die for us. It is only because of God that we have any worth, any direction, any hope for today and tomorrow.
He is the reason I have confidence...and it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him.
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