December 16
December 16
Do you live as a believer with confidence and a faith that is sure?
I meet many Christian parents, husbands and wives, university students, workers, and church members who lack confidence. They are living a life of unsure faith. Because of this, they are timid when it comes to their faith and lack the ability to live, decide, act, and speak with the confidence that what they have given their lives to is sure, dependable, true, and trustworthy. One man told me he was afraid to share the gospel with others because he was afraid that they might convince him that the good news is not true. Many people claim to be believers, but, when it comes to making decisions, they run to Google or a social media influencer rather than to God’s word. Is your life made stable by a confident faith? Do you live with courage because, when it comes to the things of God, you are sure? Or does doubt haunt you? Does fear paralyze you? Are you afraid that what you have given your life to may turn out to be untrue? Where do you run when you are not sure?
The writer of Hebrews gives us the following call to a life of gospel confidence:
Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb. 10:19–25)
What an amazing call to stand up in faith and be sure! Why do we have reason to be sure?
We can hold on to gospel hope without wavering. Resting in the redeeming work and present reign of Jesus should produce in each of us a life of confidence. So with confidence we look for ways to stir up confident lives of love and good works with one another. With confidence we commit ourselves to the body of Christ, to its gatherings and mission. And with confidence we become tools of encouragement in the lives of others.
We have been welcomed into the presence of God, Jesus is our advocate, and we are the objects of his cleansing grace. Therefore, we have reason to live with gospel confidence.