Confidence

Are you feeling deflated? Not so sure about the journey that lies before you? Were you all excited, but now the excitement has died down? When we start a journey, many times the beginning can be so filled with positive emotions - joy, excitement, expectation. Then we really begin. Take for instance a long car trip. We have driven to Michigan to see family a couple of times and getting ready to go is always so exciting. The kids are coming out of their skin to get on the road, mom and dad are looking forward to a break from the normal routine and everyone wants to see what's waiting at the end of the road. Then you hit hour 8 and those initial feelings are all but gone. It's now too hard, your butt hurts from sitting for so long, the company is whiny and nitt-picking, the scenery doesn't seem to change much and you wonder if the family waiting on the other end is really worth all this trouble, wherever you are at that moment looks like a great place for a vacation!

Isn't that similar to the life of a dieter? When we start on a plan to change our lives we're so excited, this time is going to be it! We have great expectations for ourselves and we can even see in our minds the result of the journey. Then we get a week or two into the trip and we're wondering what the heck we were thinking. This is hard, the scale isn't moving as fast if at all, maybe I'm just meant to stay this way. The temptation to stay where you are or turn back is always lingering. Where did the confidence go?

The Bible says, "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." 2 Corinthians 3:4-5. I am completely incompetent in and of myself, I cannot place my confidence in that - I am unable to take this journey to the end. I may be able to start on my own, but I won't last. No, I must be confident in Christ Jesus who lives in me, through Him I am competent, because it's Him in me!

So where are you placing your ability to walk out this journey? Are you depending on yourself, your strength, your resolve, your determination? If so, you will fail. We must rely wholly on Christ. He is the only One who can take us to the final destination, and He promises that the final destination is worth every grueling mile of the trip. He will not fail us, He will hold us up, He will deliver us from temptation, He will encourage us, He will give us wisdom, He will guide our steps... as we place our confidence in Him, as we rely on Him.

More than losing weight, this is about dying to ourselves, every bit of ourselves, so that we can live the life that God has imagined for each one of us. So walk in confidence, hold your head up high and look to the One who goes before us, walks beside us and guards behind us.


"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
— Henry David Thoreau


Confident