Be confident

If we as Christians are not confident, then we are weak.  If we do not display confidence, then we are displaying weakness.  When I see a Christian who is afraid to fail, or is fearful of anything for that matter, I do not see that as a positive witness for Christ.  It is the exact opposite.

With this said, we are to be humble.  There is a difference however between confidence and cockiness.  Our confidence must always honour the Lord and represent Him well.  Therefore, we should be confident, but not cocky.

There are a few reasons for this.

1.  When we are confident we are acting as Jesus did.  He was always supremely confident, but never cocky.  He is the model we should follow.  He is the image we should follow in everything, including confidence.  When you are not confident, you are weak and representing weakness.  God is not weak and we are His representatives.  Be confident, because Jesus is confident, and we are called to be His representatives in everything we do (Colossians 3:17)

2.  God says, "I have given you a Spirit of courage, not fear" (2 Timothy 1:7)...(paraphrased).

3.  God calls us to do our best in everything (Colossians 3:23).  In order to do your best, you need to be confident.  If you are not confident, you can't perform your best.

4.  "Every good and perfect gift comes from above....".  The talents and abilities you have come from God.  Whether they are natural abilities, or those you have worked to develop, it is important to always recognise that God has given you those abilities.  Even those you have worked to develop are from Him.  When we work at developing talents and abilities, the see degree to which those talents are recognized directly relate to the degree to which God chooses to bless your efforts.

It is important to be confident, but it is also imperative to ensure that being confident never leads to an attitude of thinking my success depends on me.  Any success I ever have accomplished, or ever will accomplish, is directly related to how God chooses to bless my efforts.

In so many ways there is incredible freedom in Christ.  One of those ways is with confidence.  We can be confident and strive to do our best and know that if what we are trying to accomplish doesn't happen that it wasn't God's will.  It would be foolish to sit back and not try your Brest though. The freedom is in knowing that you can be confident and do your best and know that God eil no allow anything to happen that He doesn't want to.  So go out and be confident and try to win or accomplish whatever task it is knowing that God is honoured through the act of worship and that He will make sure to use your effort to accomplish His will.  Don't not try in fear of going out of His will for that is actually going out of His will because you are not doing your best and are not trusting that He is faithful and sovereign to accomplish His will.  To stay in His will you need to try your best in every circumstance God brings you to and trust Him to use the effort to accomplish what He wants.  Remember, He calls us to confident dobour best.  He has "given us a Spirit of courage, not of fear".