Confidence

Confidence

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

AT FIRST, I felt stodgy next to her grace and poise, awkward beside her larger-than-life persona. Her confidence magnified my own insecurities. I knew it was my problem to fix and resolved to focus on getting to know her. I quickly realized she was truly lovely, inside and out.

Just a few years later, I saw the same woman at an event and was happy to be reacquainted. To my surprise, her once bright light had dimmed; she seemed anxious and uncomfortable in her own skin. As I flashed back to our meeting years earlier, I was saddened at the change. I wondered what had altered in her life to make her confidence falter.

According to Strong’s concordance, the word confidence that Hebrews 4:16 tells us to approach God’s throne with is from the Greek parrésia and means freedom of speech and/or confidence. Its origin is a combination of pas (“all” or “every”) and rhésis (“speech”). Rereading the verse, I realized I’ve been misreading it all along. I thought that confidence was an external attitude we project toward others—but it’s not. Confidence isn’t just certainty in our own abilities, it’s equally tied to the word confidential. When someone holds our confidence, it’s with the understanding that our words will be kept private.

Holy confidence, then, is found at the feet of Jesus. When we come to the throne of grace, his strength can uphold us, his love can comfort us. When we are willing to “speak everything” to him, our unrestrained outpouring helps us leave behind shame or embarrassment, knowing we can trust him. As our champion, he intercedes on our behalf.

This confidential unburdening of ourselves often leads to the other kind of confidence, as well—one that isn’t found in the changing nature of our circumstances, but in the unchanging nature of a holy God. He alone gives us the confidence to look at the world around us, appreciating it for the way it is but holding it loosely in our hands—knowing heaven is our true home.

Lord, thank you that we can trust you with the intimate details of our lives, giving us the freedom to live with a newfound confidence. Amen.

-Kristin

One Good Step: What does “holy confidence” look like to you? How might you experience that in your own life?