Be bold and confident

I played the club championships this year and lost by a stroke.  I did a good job of trying to have fun glorifying God, but I failed to add bold confidence and determination to win.  God is more glorified by, "I am going to have fun going out and winning for God's glory" then He is by, "I am going to go have fun for God's glory and see what happens".  God wants us to be confident and bold.  Jesus was.  I must work as if it depends on me, but live realizing it doesn't.

Our best is accomplished when we go out and are confident and bold and believe that we are going to win, because this is the attitude necessary to accomplish your best.  When I strive to do my best to glorify God and worship Him, I should have an attitude similar to the one I would if I was striving to impress Brie with my performance.  I would go out there and do everything I possibly could to be successful.  I would not be scared of the competition, I would not be passive, but rather I would be bold and confident and truly believe that I was better than them and strive to whup them.  Otherwise, I would not be impressing her at all, but rather making myself look weak.  It is similar with striving to do my best for God's glory.  While I cannot "impress" Him, I must glorify Him, and He is glorified when I do my best in the ways described above.  Therefore, viewing the idea of worshiping and glorifying God in a way similar to striving to impress Brie with my performance is a good one, as long as I understand that I cannot impress God, but I can glorify Him and worship Him through performing to the best of my ability, and performing to the best of my ability requires the attitude that I would have if I was trying to impress Brie.

God is not honoured when we are scared of somebody else.  He is not honoured when we are scared of the competition.  The only person I should fear is God.  I must be bold, confident and believe that I will destroy my competition.  I need to be respectful of my competition and not look down on them as people or disrespect them as people, but as competition, I should be looking to destroy them.  Sports are a battle.  Destroy the competition, and in Christ-like love, shake their hand after.  Again, it is important however to ensure that you are not disrespectful to them while destroying them, for it is a game, not war.  Be mindful of being Christ-like when you are seeking to destroy your competition in sport.

In order to do my best I should have an attitude of, "No competition can stand against me accomplishing what I am seeking to accomplish.  No competition is better than me".  The only One whom I should understand can prevent me from accomplishing what I am seeking to accomplish is God.  That is a very comforting thing which breeds confidence, because it allows me to go out there with an attitude of desiring to accomplish something for God and His glory, understanding that I will only accomplish it if God chooses to bless my efforts.  He calls me to do my best though.  He calls me to do my part.  Therefore, it is important for me to be confident and truly believe that no competition can stand in my way.  Doing so will ensure that I put forth my personal best, and then allow God to take care of the results.  I can say, "I give you this effort and performance Lord.  Please be glorified and do with it as you see fit".

Look at David.  When he fought Goliath, he was extremely bold and confident.  I know that he had faith that God was going to bring him out on top, but he could not be passive.  He still was bold and confident and he went out there aggressively and went after the victory.  He was in no way passive, waiting for God to bring the victory to him.  David understood that he had to do his part in the process.  David had to work as if it depended on him, but he lived realizing that it didn't.  David understood that in the end, God's will would be done.  David understood that he would only be victorious if God chose to bless his efforts.