Recently, I broke the sesamoid bone in my right foot and was forced to drastically change many of my plans. This included no hiking and no high heels. Ugh! While this is not a big deal, it reaffirms an important fact. We never know what is going to happen to disrupt our health, our family, or our finances in the next six hours, six days, or six months. Difficult circumstances happen to all of us. But we CAN still have absolute confidence about our future. To be unshaken by the unknown requires that we learn to place our greatest confidence in God instead of our earthly accomplishments, assets, health, or community.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul made it clear that our absolute confidence should NOT be in our worldly accomplishments. In chapter three, he summarized his own accomplishments (vs 3-6), and of them said:
“But [these] things [which] were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.” (vs. 7)
Philippians 3:4-9
Why in the world would Paul downplay his great accomplishments??? Well, it was because He had experienced a power greater than his own!!!
“I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” (vs. 7-9)
Philippians 3:4-9
Because He had experienced Christ, Paul counted all of his worldly accomplishments as “rubbish.” Because Paul knew Christ…
…He knew the value of knowing Christ far outweighed the value of anything else in his life. He knew that knowing “Him and the power of His resurrection,” (Philippians 3:10) would translate into confidence which cannot be shaken by his earthly circumstances. Paul had forsaken confidence in his own accomplishments and had placed all of his confidence in Christ.
In any difficult circumstance—including a broken foot—the habit of living with confidence in God just presents a different set of opportunities!
This confidence is not born overnight. We will NEVER have ANY motivation to trust Christ unless we are first, born again; and secondly, passionately seek to know who He is. As we draw closer to Him, we discover things like:
A love deeper than we’ve ever imagined that is constantly assuring us of who we are, WHO we belong to, what our purpose is, and where our greatest hope lies;
A peace that weathers the toughest storms and never wavers;
A power and wisdom so far beyond our own ability that each hardship ends up being an experience that blows our mind and gifts us with the captivating wonder of Almighty God…
These personal developments in our relationship with Christ combine to make us resolve to place our greatest confidence in our relationship with HIM! When He is our greatest source of confidence, we learn that to die to our own ambitions is to live for His great purpose. This is called dying to self.
The seed of self must be laid to rest and die in order for the fruit of the Spirit to grow.
Jesus said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
John 12:24-26
Living for Christ makes us supremely confident because there is no one we rely on who is more powerful, loving, wise and talented!
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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6 Responses
You are really talented and intelligent with the way you are explaining and getting across the messages that the Bible is trying to teach. Thank you for your devotional it is great I love reading it. I hope your foot feels better soon.😇
Praise God for His wisdom! So blessed to be a blessing! 😊
Thank you and praise be to God!!!
I love your messages they are absolutely awesome I love God and Jesus Christ is my savior and I pray to be more like him even though it’s extremely hard and I never will be in this world
Yes! Life is hard, but I’d rather do it WITH God than without Him.
Yes it is hard—but Praise God He gives us His Word and His Spirit to guide us!