In an ever-changing world, hold on to your confidence in a never-changing god.

SO DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE; IT WILL BE RICHLY REWARDED.

HEBREWS 10:35

My husband and I have been on a documentary kick lately. Specifically, a mountain climbing documentary kick. And there’s this subset of climbing that I can’t quite wrap my mind around called alpinism. It’s done in cold conditions, is technically challenging, and is often done without using ropes. Watching these climbers is riveting. Their gear is specially designed. Their experience is vast. Their skill is unparalleled. And because of all of that, they have the confidence necessary to climb a sheer rock face without losing their cool. 

I do not have the skills, the strength, nor the no-holds-barred grit to be an alpinist. Put simply, I (rightly) lack the confidence to attempt such a feat—and I’m OK with that. I’m going to guess that most of you are with me here. There are things in life that are OK for us not to have confidence in. But there are other things in life that, even though they’re hard, are actually really important for us to have confidence in. And when it comes to remembering who God is and the relationship we now have with him because of Christ, we are called to hold fast to our confidence in him. 

I’m going to level with you: there are times in my life when holding on to my confidence in God is hard. I see my own sin, my failings, my inadequacies. I can feel discouraged, helpless, and overwhelmed. For so many of us, when hard times come we wonder if staying the course is really worth it. We’re tempted to place our confidence in ourselves, which, in my experience, has worked out as well as I was hoping exactly 0% of the time.

Where we put our confidence makes all the difference. And the good news is that the verse we’re memorizing together this month points us to the only place where we can find true confidence. Hebrews 10:35 says, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”    

(CONTINUED BELOW) 

(CONTINUED FROM ABOVE)

Confidence in what? 

What are we called to put our confidence in? How we answer that question is super important. The Sunday School answer is “Jesus.” Spoiler alert: that’s also the real answer. The book of Hebrews—where our verse is situated—is packed full of reasons we should put our confidence in Jesus. Here are a few:

-Jesus is powerful, upholding the universe he created by the power of his word (1:2-3) 

-Jesus is better than angels (and any other spiritual being we can think of) (1:4) 

-Jesus reigns over all things (2:8) 

-Jesus was made like us so he could redeem us (2:17-18) 

-Jesus understands our suffering and temptations, and helps us when we’re tempted (2:18, 4:15) 

-Jesus has defeated Satan and offers us freedom from death and the fear of death (2:14-15) 

-Jesus is the ultimate high priest who has paid for our sins once for all time (4:14; 9:11-12) 

-Jesus has given us his own righteousness, making it possible for us to confidently draw near to God (4:16, 10:19) 

-Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, having finished his work perfectly and secured ultimate victory (10:12-13) 

-Jesus is faithful, and we can trust him completely (10:23) 

-Jesus is coming back as he promised, and he is our great reward (10:35-37) 

-Jesus will never change, even when everything else does (13:8)    

What are all these incredible truths about Jesus telling us? Here’s one major thing: because of Jesus, we—you and me, sinful, broken, fickle people—can not only draw near to a holy God, but we can do so with confidence, knowing that our sins (past, present, and future) have been completely forgiven. 

And one of the very best things about this confidence is that it has absolutely nothing to do with you or me. It has absolutely everything to do with Jesus. If you’re like me, and see your own prone-to-wander tendencies, I hope this comes as life-giving good news today. The point of the gospel is that we can’t ever be good enough to earn our salvation, but that Jesus has already done so, and we can trust him fully for that. 

So today—right now—can I invite you to stop and pray with me? 

God, we come to you today as fickle, prone-to-wander, broken people. But because of Jesus and his righteousness, we boldly come before your throne of grace, asking you for mercy and help in our time of need. Would you empower us by your Spirit to hold fast to our confidence in our never-changing Savior in the face of our ever-changing world? Would you remind us of the beautiful reality that you yourself are our great reward, and that we have an unshakable hope that you will one day return and bring us to be with you, righting every wrong and wiping away every tear from our eyes? You are worthy of all our trust, and love, and our very lives. We long to be confident in who you are, and who we are in light of you. Thank you for promising that you will complete the good work that you have started in us to conform us to the image of Christ. What hope! Amen.

Thanks for reading,

Lindsay