Tag: confidence

The Key to Confidence

The Key to Confidence

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy

Sometimes your requests will never be rejected from our Lord. Our struggle often comes from a lack of confidence in the Lord.

We can ask for the Lord’s help but we are still unsure of ourselves. This effects our performance and belief in our own abilities. We need to find the recipe for confidence to sustain us. Our confidence is in the Lord, the Provider of all good things.

Can you out-give God? Can you give God more than He gives you? The answer is a firm, “no.” Otherwise, how could He be God?

We could never give God more than He gives us, this is a rule that has remained steadfast for centuries. It is impossible. If you give God more, then He will give you much more. Some people give their entire lives to the Lord, then their reward is in eternity. It is impossible for the Lord to deny the reward of the one who gives.

This is our first rule in the recipe of confidence- we can never give more than God.

What can I  give in return? If I live in sin, I have bad habits, my life is a total mess. I have nothing to offer the Lord, and so, I assume that the Lord cannot give me anything. This brings us to rule number two. Time is a commodity created on earth, but eternity is timeless. Our Lord is not bound to the constraints of time. The present, past and future are the same. This is strange to grasp as humans as we see life as sequential, everything in order, in due time.

God created time for a reason, but He is not bound to time. Even if we haven’t given Him anything in the past, I can give in the future. This is called a vow – to borrow from the future. My past is not good, but my future can be.

We can gain confidence by making vows to the Lord. It might be good to write our vows down so that we do not forget what we have promised to the Lord. Vows are serious, as the Bible says – “Better not to vow than to vow and not pay” – Ecclesiastes 5:5.

We must be careful, but if we can fulfil, we should vow. The Bible encourages us to fulfil our vows;

When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you

Deuteronomy 23:21-22

In vows, the Lord glorifies us and we will give thanks to Him. We can give God vows in service, vows in prayer, vows in any way that may glorify the Lord. Whatever we like from the Lord, we can make vows, and He is faithful to repay.

We must be cautious not to vow more than what we can fulfil. Consult your father of confession to ensure these vows are realistic. Some get afraid that they cannot fulfil their vows. The key is in our hands. If your vows are strong and reasonable and you fulfil them, you will never be disappointed. How the Lord works, we never really know.

Success is not a figure, but a relationship with God that guarantees glory in every aspect of your life.

The elderly are not tempted like the young. They are not faced with the same temptations. As St John writes,

I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one

1 John 2:14

Some vows we can consider when we are young –

  • Short and honest confessions. In confession, many people are honest and to the point. Others speak, tell stories, make jokes. These will generally leave feeling like they do not benefit from confession. Of course they did not benefit, for they didn’t confess. You didn’t embarrass yourself, you did not break your heart.
  • Money is another; with any skill we have, we can use this to help others and the profits to give the poor.
  • Pray for one another, use your time in prayer to pray for others.

We have a key to the power of God. He is very real, and encourages making and fulfilling vows. They are Biblical. The risk is that you make a vow and cannot fulfil it. We must always pray for one another, in unity. If you are not affected personally but see others around you struggling, share with them in prayer.

Our confidence is derived from using all our talents for the glory of God. No matter the career, we remain servants of the Lord for eternity.

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 12:26

Meekness

Meekness

by Natalie Hanna 

Holding a newborn is not an easy task. If it’s your first time the mother will likely serve you a set of instructions and special conditions, if she could, she definitely would make you sign a liability contract- but somehow, someway, just by instinct, even the clueless know you have to handle a baby with precision and care.

If I ask you to recall your childhood trauma’s, I’m sure you’ll have quite a few stories to share, but amongst them is likely a look, or a whisper from your father after a traitorous act you dared to commit in public or directly after being told against. And surely you know from your time on earth that the ability to truly comfort a broken person is a SKILL only few have mastered- I bet you’re thinking of that one person who did that for you, pretty incredible that you were able to laugh at the end of the conversation aye?

Now think back to the last time you watched a talent show, is there not always a likeable quality about someone who performs brilliantly but still doesn’t know how good they are? Or do you prefer the nuisance that may also be talented but strides it each chance they get- I thought not.

When we witness someone handle a situation which deserves anger and gnashing of teeth with due care and diligence, overcoming it without overselling it, we are impressed- be it on a minor scale such as avoiding road rage, or on a major scale such as Paralympic Champions.

The overlooked qualities underlying these overlooked situations, and the focus of my discussion today are gentleness and meekness. I know, I too was itching to write strength. Interesting that gentleness and meekness can be demonstrated in conjunction with strength when they are often stereotyped as contradictory. When visualised through situations it may be evidenced that one’s alibility to compose themselves in gentleness, amidst chaos, and to maintain grounding in success is are admirable and difficult traits which form the foundation of more recognised traits such as strength and endurance.

C.S Lewis states in his book “Mere Christianity” that “the real job of every moral teacher is to keep on bringing us back, time after time, to the old simple principles which we are all so anxious not to see”, and I agree. I believe Jesus through His story, and through His message to us in the Bible came to clarify the things we already know to be good, but do not always recognise and adapt into our lives. And what better way to do that then to live among us, but act beyond our realm?

The king of kings and lord of lords chose to enter the world as a child – like you and me. But no, that would be a lie- that won’t cut it, our God likes a grand entrance, an entrance that would haunt generations and puzzle royalty for centuries to come.

Our God chose a manger, alongside animals and hay. What your mother, and mine would see as a story of dismay, He came to say, hey! There’s no good in display, flashy lights and a highway, for that won’t stay. Downplay, lift your eyes and pray- and that, that will never go away. And the Lord who sees in His secret place, He will reward us abundantly.

In case that wasn’t enough the vessel of his entrance, His mother and ours, St Mary was nothing but a handmaiden, a common girl with no apparent speciality or education. Our standards for high-end service would likely exclude her, but our God chose her. Likely, because she did all she could with the little she had, showing no pride or sympathy towards herself. And“henceforth, all generations shall call her blessed”(Luke 1: 48).

But our Father knew we were thick and needed more a hint, so this wasn’t his only grand entrance. At 30 years of age when Jesus began his formal mission, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He had a bit of a reputation by this stage and it was time to stride it, so he chose his best donkey and a set of Palm leaves.  I don’t know about you but when it’s my birthday, or even if I attend a party I often think of my best outfit, but our King did not want that. He wanted the poor to empathize and the rich to recognise, that impact can still be made when you minimize, the show. Instead, He let His actions shine through.

Christians can easily recall the instances when Jesus intentionally lost his temper, at the fig tree and at the temple. This is because there were so very few of them. In all instances Christ remained gentle. He was gentle dealing with the Sinner woman when there was reason not to, he was gentle in asserting knowledge when traditions were broken and He continues to be gentle with us as He was with His disciples when they misunderstood parables and could not see solutions, explaining things via other means.

Through these situations we are able to see that gentleness and meekness is not reticence, compliance or lack of strength. Jesus did not shy away from persecution, arrests or floggings.Jesus was confident, persuasive, even confrontational at times, yet gentle because he used his powers for the greater Good. The same holds for us.  The gentle can be assertive, but they do not assert themselves. We can be strong and assertive, yet gentle if we leverage power not to assert self, but to promote the cause of God or the needy.

Through this, we are illuminated to the fact that true demonstration of meekness and gentleness is not a question is not how strong we are, but howwe use our strength. A silent strength which does not parade itself but rather promotes Good unapologetically. And it is in my view one of the most difficult challenges one can encounter.

But through Christ’s story, and many in the Bible, we are taught how- and furthermore, we already know it. In the back of our minds and enshrined in our conscious with admiration, fragility and restoration, we appreciate it. The harder end now, is to truly balance and apply it. I speak to myself more than anyone else – Be conscious, be diligent and best of luck!

Confidence in Humility

Confidence in Humility

by Bethany Kaldas

‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.’

~Micah 6:8

I always used to think that humility and confidence contradicted each other. After all, confidence seemed far more like a characteristic of pride—it’s the proud who are so confident in their own knowledge that they can’t admit that they’re wrong, it’s the proud who are so sure of their own importance that they butt into things they shouldn’t.

In my mind, the humble were the reverse—they doubted their own wisdom to the point that they never enforced their opinion on anything, they lacked so much confidence in their abilities that they never admitted to doing anything well and will vehemently deny any such suggestion. We’ve all met those people who will fight you to the death over a compliment.

For the longest time, that was what I thought humility looked like, and I suspect I’m not alone in that belief.

But let me ask you, this image of a humble man—does it look like Christ? Is this how Christ behaved around people? There’s an upturned table in a temple and a mob of offended Pharisees who would suggest otherwise. And you can’t argue that Christ, because He is God, had no need to be humble—He said so Himself: ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Matthew 11:25).

So if the person described above is not indeed truly humble, then what is real humility?

I think that question is answered most eloquently by the Christian writer C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity:

‘Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.’

Lewis puts it even more concisely: ‘Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.’

And this, I feel, is where most people—myself first—mess up when it comes to the distinction between pride and humility. You are not humble for your self-deprecation, nor are you prideful for your confidence. Pride or humility is decided by where you are looking: are you looking to God and to His creation, or is your attention drawn mainly to yourself? When faced with a difficult situation, are you searching for God’s will, or are you so engrossed in your own infirmity that you can’t imagine that God would ever use you for His purposes?Believe it or not, whether you are focusing on your many talents or many faults—both are pride. Whether you’re puffing yourself up to make yourself look good in front of others, or tearing yourself down to appear meek, so long as youare your biggest concern, you have fallen as far from real humility as possible.

In this way, it might still be hard to see how you can reconcile humility with confidence. If you’re confident in yourself, you’re still thinking about you, right? What if we’ve misunderstood what real confidence is too?

Let’s take a look at a man who, in my opinion, is one of the best examples of what real confidence looks like: John the Baptist.

John was a confident guy from the very beginning. Even from the womb you could tell he was about as far from that quiet, apologetic person we once mistook for a humble man as possible. He preached wherever he went and was bold enough to tell even powerful rulers like Herod when they were in the wrong (Matthew 14:3-5), knowing full well what the consequences might be. Not to mention the fact that he was eating bugs long before anyone else thought it was cool, though his fashion sense never quite caught on. He feared no man and held no secrets—John the Baptist was an open book and he was never afraid to tell the truth.

However, as much as he talks and as confident as he behaves, there’s not a single trace of pride in his actions. He speaks more of the Christ than himself, and when he does speak of himself, he does so with complete honesty and openness. He never claims to be more than he is, although he is given plenty of opportunities to declare himself a god. He is confident in who he is because he knows himself in relation to Christ (John 1:23, Luke 3:15-17). He is humble not simply because he has realised that ‘He must increase and I must decrease’, but because Christ has made his joy full (John 3:29-30). He has realised that his very purpose is in Christ and Christ, unlike himself, is unfailing. His confidence was never in himself—it was always in the God he served. That is what true confidence looks like, and it is inseparable from his humility.

John the Baptist contrasts rather sharply with the image of the ‘humble’ man we started out with. For far too long, I feel the concept of humility has been twisted into something almost masochistic, and I’ve both seen and experienced the damage a misconception of this beautiful virtue can do to a person. It can generate a sense of worthlessness and self-pity that can only drive a person further away from true humility—from having real confidence in Christ and an honest view of themselves. It is a shroud of lies that prevents one from seeing the Truth—of themselves, of the world, of God. The Truth that is Christ Himself.

The life of John the Baptist also demonstrates another beautiful aspect to this true, outward-looking humility. John, being so confident in his Creator, never felt the need to try and glorify himself. His joy had already been filled by ‘the Bridegroom’s voice’(John 3:29), he needed nothing more. And yet, it was Jesus who came to John to be baptised—one of the greatest honours a human could have. John spent his entire life glorifying the Lord, and in the end, it turned out that the Lord was always preparing to glorify him. And this isn’t just a special case for John. Very clearly in James 4:10, we see that this applies to all of us: ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.’