The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry Proverbs 3:26(KJV)—For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Psalm 118:8(KJV)—It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Confidence means full trust or assurance. What or who do we put our full trust in? If it is the human race, we will surely be disappointed? God is the only one we can fully trust. He is a sure thing. Only God can keep all of His promises. We try keeping our promises, but sometimes things get in the way. Only God can give us salvation.
We can have full confidence in Christ’s offer of salvation by grace through Him. Unbelievers don’t have this confidence because they do not know about Christ and God’s love. It is up to us Christians to tell of our confidence we have in Him. He never lies to us. He has no evil in Him. He is all good and holy.
Some religious leaders today believe that we get saved by what we do (works). They are those who say that people must add something else to simple faith. No person should add anything to Christ’s offer of salvation by grace through Him. What believers do is a result of faith, not a prerequisite to faith.
These are some examples of what people put their trust in: pilots put confidence in their planes; commuters place confidence in cars, buses, subways or trains. Each day we put our confidence in someone or something, even ourselves. If we are willing to have confidence in these things, are we willing to put our trust in God to guide us here on earth and to our eternal destination? Do you trust Him more than anything or in any human being? It is futile to trust in anything or anyone more than God.
Having confidence in ourselves is not smart when it causes us to believe we can always do what needs to be done in our own strength. We can be confident of victory only if we put our full trust in God and not ourselves. It is hard for some people to give up their independence and depend upon God.
Ephesians 2:8-9(KJV)—8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: 9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Even after some people have been given the gift of salvation, they still feel obligated to try to work their way to God. Because our salvation and even our faith are gifts, we should respond with gratitude, praise, and joy not with the attitude of now what can I do to repay you. However, out of gratitude for this free gift, we will seek to help and serve others with kindness, love, and gentleness, and not merely to please ourselves. While no action or work we do can help us obtain salvation, we have a desire to serve Christ and build up the church with the confidence we have put in Him.
Very well said! Loved reading this article 🙂
Well written devotional. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you Cora and Joel. God is so good and faithful. He knows what needs to be said at the right time. I love writing for The Bottom Line!
I really enjoyed this one, Susan. It hits home as I recently taught this about grace vs works. I was amazed at how many Christians don’t understand. Thanks for sharing this!
Amen Sue He is the only stable source to trust in.
There is absolutely no way I could do anything to merit or earn my salvation. And how arrogant it would be of me to even think I could, and I would never have the right to say I deserve God’s grace and some other person does not. No person is good enough to be DESERVING of God’s grace, and no person is bad enough to be UNDESERVING of his grace.
Thank you for the scriptures Susan.
I know that I am completely undeserving of His grace. I put all confidence in the salvation God provides through Jesus. I still, however, have difficulty sometimes with confidence in what HE will do in me and through me to accomplish His purpose. I ‘know’ that He will equip me, and yet sometimes the voices of doubt about my own ability steals my confidence in Him. When those doubts creep in I will claim those scriptures. Thanks!