Taming Insecurity through the Gospel
Grow Godly Confidence by Doing This
It doesn’t matter how confident a person appears, overwhelming research plus decades of working one on one with people, plus my own struggles, makes it clear that absolutely EVERYONE battles insecurity regularly.
I know, some people seem to ooze with confidence, and it is true, some people are more confident than others. But like most virtues, confidence ebbs and flows. In his book The Confident Mind, Dr. Nate Zinsser writes about several misconceptions regarding confidence. Here are 3 of them:
Misconception #1: Confidence is a Fixed, Inherited Trait. You Were Born with a Certain Amount of It and There’s Not Much You Can Do Beyond That.
Instead, confidence is learned. It is the result of a consistently constructive thinking process that allows performers to do two things: (1) retain and benefit from their successful experiences, and (2) release or restructure their less successful experiences.
Misconception #2: Confidence is All-encompassing, so You’re Either Confident Across the Board in All Aspects of Life or You’re Not Confident at All.
Quite the contrary–confidence is very situation specific. You can develop confidence in any area of life you care to.
Misconception #3: Once You Become Confident You’ll Stay That Way Forever.
Bob Rotella, the sport psychology expert best known for his work mentoring PGA and LPGA champions, made the same point about the need to continually work on confidence by comparing it to the work seaside communities do to maintain the sand dunes that protect streets and buildings from the sea….
That means you, the person who understands that you’re fighting Connor Hanafee’s “perpetual war of attrition” and continues to build confidence over the long term, will have a significant advantage over nearly everyone else and have fewer and fewer real competitors. Advantage you!
If you are aware of your battle with insecurity, reading that should be encouraging. There are steps you can take to shrink insecurity and strengthen your confidence….especially as a follower of Jesus.
Increasing Confidence through Faith in Jesus
Both Scripture and science confirm that we do not have to yield to feelings of insecurity and that we can grow stronger in faith and confidence.
One of the most well-known verses found in the Bible (even by non-believers) is John 8:32, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” This is definitely the case when it comes to godly confidence.
The more we know and internalize who God says we are in Christ, the more secure and confident we will feel and act. Especially when we remind ourselves that God is the ultimate judge of what is true and that much of this world’s thinking is based on deception from an experienced and ruthless enemy.
Here are just one of many God-truths, Scriptures that when INTERNALIZED will shrink insecurity and strengthen godly confidence.
Colossians 1:25–27, “of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of this glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
If we back up just a few paragraphs, Paul had just written some of the most enlightening Scriptures found in the entire Bible on the greatness of Jesus. In verse 15–20 he tells us that Jesus is:
- The image of the invisible God
- The firstborn of all creation
- The person by whom all things in every dimension were created: visible and invisible
- He is before all things
- In Him all things hold together
- He is the head of the church, His body
- He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead
- In everything He is preeminent or supreme
- The fullness of God dwells in Him
- He reconciled all things, in every dimension to Himself
- Jesus made peace for all of us by the blood of the cross
All of us are thrilled and in awe as we read more about the greatness of our Savior!
God’s Mystery Revealed
THEN, through Paul, God tells us that this incredible Jesus actually comes to live in us when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior. Obviously all the fullness of who He is can’t fit in our much smaller human souls (compared to Him); nevertheless, numerous times in the New Testament God tells us that Jesus actually lives in us.
This Creator and sustainer of all things, this firstborn from the dead, this head over all creation actually lives in each and every believer!
When we receive those words as true, and God is the One who said this, and let them take root and grow in us, what does that do to insecurity? It shrinks it. What kind of confidence can that produce? Godly confidence, real confidence.
This is one of the great mysteries God kept hidden until Jesus came, lived, died, was resurrected, and ascended to the place of highest authority in the heavens. God would not only be WITH us, but through His word, the Holy Spirit, received by faith in Jesus…Christ would live IN us.
This Jesus in us is THE hope of glory.
Shrink Insecurity, Grow Godly Confidence
There are hundreds of other God truths woven through the Bible that will shrink insecurity and grow strong confidence. But these verses are a great place to start.
Prayerfully, slowly, consistently meditate on words like this and watch your godly confidence keep growing stronger and stronger.
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