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Confidence in the Flesh

by Jerry Ousley  
5/29/2015 / Christian Living

Confidence I had it. I knew exactly where I was going, or so I thought. I had printed out my Map Quest map, as I had done many times before. It had never let me down. Then I hadn't invested in a GPS device. There just hadn't seemed to be any reason to do it, not as long as I could get on the internet, gain access to Map Quest, and have a good stock of paper and ink, and a good printer. The client I was going to visit had his business in his home way out in the Boone-docks in an area in which I had never been. But I was confident because I had my map. As I said, it had never let me down before.

I was within fifteen minutes of my scheduled appointment and thought I had made all the correct turns, at least according to my map. The road signs did not match the ones I was looking at on paper and suddenly I felt totally lost. I could see the sun and knew what time it was so I was pretty sure I knew East from West and North from South. But right now I had no idea where I was and if I could find my way back to the highway. Thank God for my cell phone! I called the man I was supposed to meet and sheepishly told him I was lost out in the country. I had stopped at an intersection where I could see the road signs and read them off to him. Duh! I wasn't even in the right county yet! His directions proved to be much simpler than those on my trusted map, and too make a long story short, I found my way back to the highway (only because I saw a water tower in the distance and guessed that it might be a pretty good sign of where the small town was) and going by his directions was only about five minutes late for our appointment. Maybe I should reconsider that GPS thing-a-ma-jig

The point is that I was confident in my ability based on past history and pride in my sense of direction. I was confident in the flesh. To be a successful Christian the final step is to make it happen to score the goal make the point get to where we are going. We must have a good attitude; it is imperative that we are committed; it's very important that we persevere, and we must be willing to pay the price. But after we've done all those things it's time to put it all into action and make it happen. In order to do that we've got to find the right balance of confidence in the flesh; when is it time to have no confidence in ourself and when should we trust our own ability? Paul wrote in Philippians 3:3-4, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so " It sounds like a contradiction doesn't it? After Paul said that if anyone thinks they have reason to have confidence in the flesh (in their own abilities) he said that he had more reason than anyone else, then he went on to list those reasons. He was speaking of balance. There is a time in which we should trust ourself because of our God-given talents and characteristics, and there is a time when we must forsake all that we know and trust in the direction of the Holy Spirit.

The trick comes in knowing which way to go. In my example, even though I had all confidence in my ability, I found myself in a situation in which I was beginning to feel completely lost. I felt a panic growing inside and past experience told me that it was time to swallow my pride and depend on someone else. My stubborn insistence of trusting myself had gotten me into trouble in the past.

Mine is only a small example of this. Many find themselves lost in life. They believe that they know what to do. They have all confidence that they can get themselves out of this mess. But the panic swells inside as they find themselves doing things in attempt to straighten the situation out. After a while they forget what they have done that needs to be undone and now they are simply lost. Many have become lost in life. We can get lost in life even as a believer in Christ if we don't learn when we can trust the flesh and when we must cry out, "Help me Father!" But when we discover the difference, and when we know where that line has been drawn, we can bow our heads and yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us and He will not let us down. It requires our absolute trust in God and giving up of ourselves. But we can do it and when we do we will know the difference.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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