Confidence in Me

God created us all to showcase attributes of Himself through the way we live our lives. Unlike anyone I've ever met, God granted me with a mind that is music based. Not necessarily in a way that I can write, read, play, or sing music (though I can...to a point, and many others are gifted with far greater musical minds than mine), but wired in such a way that when I hear a word or phrase in conversation or in a sermon or reading scripture or on talk radio I immediately associate that word or phrase with a song (Perhaps I owe this thinking style in some ways to the History of rock and Roll class I took in college...), my brain puts music to it, and finds a chorus from contemporary, Christian, classic, or secular radio to accompany this soundtrack in my mind. For example-and the basis for our time today-I heard the word "confidence" on talk radio in the car yesterday, and I immediately thought of the song "I Have Confidence" from The Sound of Music, a song that had NOTHING to do with the conversation, but this is how God chooses to speak to me.

Now, if I could ask for a "mind-giftedness" I would probably ask for great memory or a way with words, wisdom in science or some great artistic ability...but God has gifted me as He sees fit, and as I write and blog my way through music, I find, God was right all the time!

So, confidence. The lyrics of this song are very positive, very uplifting, every encouraging, and very absent of God.

"I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides which you see I have confidence in me...
I have confidence in confidence alone
Besides which you see I have confidence in me!"

And really, reading through the words and listening to the song, it is all those things!!! BUT, what about having confidence in Christ alone??? Current culture and "new age" "positive thinking" would tell us that this song is the way to bolster the confidence we lack, to simply have confidence in confidence, confidence in sunshine, confidence in self... As Christians, we are called to something more. My Nelson's Quick Reference Bible Concordance sites 18 reference to the word(s) confident and confidence...Biblegateway.com sites 36 passage results for the word confidence and 19 for confident...

Psalm 71:5 "For You are my hope, Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth."

Proverbs 3:26 "...for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare."

Isaiah 32:17 "The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever." (this one is my favorite)

Jeremiah 17:7 "The man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed."

Philippians 3:2-8 "...watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh—although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ."

...just to name a few...

So, rather than finding confidence within myself, I find that I have confidence living in me in the form of my Beloved Christ (confidence in me vs. confidence IN me).  If our confidence is found in the Lord, we will be giving Him the glory of out lives...we will be living for His applause alone, and in effect, He will bless us. Not to mention the great witness we will be if we are showing others that our confidence comes from God, the eternal unchanging one! If we find our confidence in God alone, what will we lack?