There was a man who believed that every thing would work out, when it was clear that it should not. Someone made the statement to him, “You must be a man of great faith.” “No” he replied, “I’m a man of little faith, but it is in a great God.”
I recently started listening to a new book by NBA star Andre Iguodala. He makes the statement that nearly every player in the NBA is similar in their skill level and athleticism but that the only real difference between top and bottom players is confidence.
Faith and confidence are synonyms and their definitions can look almost interchangeable. However, we use them quite differently. Faith is often used in the looking out way (out towards God for example) while confidence is looking in (looking in towards your self). Not always of course, but that’s the way I hear them used most.
If you’ve read this far, you may be asking yourself, “what’s the point?” Good question! Here’s the point. I have faith in God, that should look like confidence in Him. If I say I have faith, then does that play itself out by me being confident in Him and what He has promised to me? Does my faith reveal itself in a confidence that could only come from believing that I am who God says I am… that I am that valuable? We sometimes accuse people of being “over confident” but that’s a silly thing to say. Cocky, arrogant or having unrealistic expectations is bad… but that’s not over confidence. You can’t be over confident, just as you couldn’t be over faithful.
So here is my point. Be confident and have great faith! Have a confidence that cannot be swayed by circumstances or outcomes, because it is a confidence based on having a true understanding of who you are, just as true faith can look foolish compared to circumstances or what “appears to be.”
A great definition of confidence is – “the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.”
Faith and confidence, you can’t have too much of either!
