Confidence in What?

Read: 1 Corinthians 10:1-12

Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. — 1 Corinthians 10:12

Bible in a year: Psalms 33–34 & Acts 24

While walking through a home-improvement store, I saw a man wearing a bright red T-shirt bearing this melancholy message: “Confidence: The feeling you have just before you understand the situation.”

I laughed at this humorous concept, but I also realized that the shirt carried a sane and sound warning. It’s a reminder to all of us who try to get things done through confidence in our own ability or credentials but without consciously trusting in the strength of God. If we think we can accomplish life’s tasks in our own strength, that false confidence will inevitably become our undoing — and we’ll collapse under the weight of our own failings.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this by recalling ancient Israel’s penchant for self-confidence and self-sufficiency. He described everything the Israelites thought they had going for them; then he told how they had turned those benefits into a license to sin and an almost arrogant confidence that would prove to be their undoing.

Paul said their self-confidence should warn us. His conclusion? “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Psalm 118:8 shows us the best way: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man,” or in ourselves. Where is your confidence? — Bill Crowder

Let all who think that they can stand
Take heed lest they should fall;
These words remind us of the truth
That God is Lord of all. — Branon

Confidence in Christ is the right kind of confidence.

PRAISE GOD
BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD