“Confidence”
2Pe.1:2-4
My little grandson, is just beginning to walk. For a little while, we would see him standing in the floor all by himself, but then when he realized that he was standing alone, he would just sit down. He could’ve most likely walked at that time, but he lacked confidence. Now, we expect him to quickly gain confidence, and when he does, his crawling days will be history. He will not keep crawling, because walking is a lot better than crawling. I remember when we were excited about him crawling. He would get up on his hands and knees and just rock back and forth, and we would say, “Look, he’s going to crawl,” but then he would stretch back out on his stomach. We wanted him to crawl, then we wanted him to walk, because we want him to live his life to the fullest. We want to see him properly maturing at every age level, because we believe, as he does that, his life will be more fulfilling. We want him to have confidence in his abilities, so that he can get the most out of them.
I want you to consider how important it is for you, as a Christian, to have confidence before the Lord. It is only as we have confidence, that we will take bold steps of faith. It is only through our confidence in the promise of His word, that we will be able to display confidence before Him, as we live out our life. I think it is safe to say that a Christian who lacks this confidence has not understood who Christ is in him and who he is in Christ. He hasn’t understood what God has provided for him, therefore, he lives beneath his privileges.
Our great need is to know God more intimately. The more we know Him, the more we will love Him, and the more we love Him, the more we will obey Him.
Grace and peace multiplied is Peter’s prayer for the recipients of this letter. In verse 2, he says this happens through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. It is certainly by God’s grace that we can know Him, in the first place, but as we draw near to Him, desiring to know Him more, He just multiplies His grace to us. Not that we deserve it, for then it wouldn’t be grace, but because He is pleased with us at that point, and He is able to make all grace abound toward us, according 2 Corinthians 9:8. When we have an awareness of God’s grace upon us, peace just naturally follows. How can I not be filled with His peace, if I know that I live in His grace? My confidence is greatly strengthened, as well, when I realize that God’s grace and peace is multiplied to me.
There’s something in verse 2 that we don’t want to miss, and that is that this multiplied grace and peace comes through the knowledge of Him. How do I get this knowledge of Him? Well, I must first know Him in salvation, but then I need to grow in my knowledge of Him. I need to more fully understand who He is in me, and who I am in Him.
Verse 3 makes a wonderful statement: He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness! He has done it through his divine power, the power of the Holy Spirit, who moved into our hearts when we were born again. I love it that He says, in past tense, that He has given us all things. It’s a done deal! Whatever we need, He has already provided it in Christ! It’s part of the package of being saved.
Now, exactly what is it that we need in life? Spiritually, we need to know God. He has provided that by giving His Son to die a substitutionary death and by inviting us to receive Christ in order to become His children. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him to them He gave the authority to become the children of God.” Physically, we need food, clothing, and shelter. Those are the basic physical needs of life. In Matthew 6, Jesus said that it is the Father who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, and that we are worth more than they. Then, in verse 27 of that chapter He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” So, spiritually, we need to know God, physically, we need food, clothing and shelter, but we also have emotional needs. At the heart of those emotional needs, we need contentment. Country music singer, Porter Wagner, used to sing a song entitled, “Satisfied Mind,” in which he made the point that whatever a person had, or didn’t have, a satisfied mind is of extreme importance. Well, according to 2 Peter 1:3, God has given us that, also.
In Philippians 4:11, the Apostle Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstance he was. He learned this, the verse says. Therefore, contentment is a lesson to be learned. We learn it by getting in the word of God and knowing God more intimately, then we can say with the Psalmist, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” So, contentment is a blessing to be received. Confidence in the word of God and the God of the word brings contentment. If we are really confident that God is going to meet all our needs, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, as Philippians 4:19 says, how can we not be content? 1 Timothy 6:8 says, “Having food and clothing, we shall be content.” So, contentment is a choice to make. To help us make the choice, 2 Peter 1:4 says that God “has given us exceedingly great and precious promises.” That’s the ticket to contentment, and that’s the ticket to confidence: taking hold of the promises He has given us. Standing on the promises is more than a song, it’s a way of life for those who are growing in their Christian experience, those who are finding a peace that surpasses understanding.
Is God speaking to you about demonstrating your confidence in His promise to you in some area of your life?
