Throwing Away Confident Faith

Read: Hebrews 10

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward." Hebrews 10:35

Examine:

Confidence can not be held in something that is known to be broken. Confidence is given to something that is known to be true. Faith is more than just the belief that God is real, that Jesus died, and that sins are forgiven. Confident faith occurs when these beliefs are mixed with actions that align with the heart of God. That level of faith is bold and leads to a great reward.

Apply:

There are three sure-fire ways for me to throw confident faith away. Verse twenty-six of this chapter contains the first one. If I willfully choose to continue in something that I know God has asked me to step away from I can rest assured that my confidence will be shaken. Holding on to anger, excusing a sin, being lazy, and many other sins face me every day. There are times when I feel a weight of conviction, but I lack the strength to say no or to let it go. When I make those choices, I have to know that I am willfully throwing away the confidence of my faith.

I can also throw away my confidence when I shrink back from something hard. Verse thirty-eight points this out. There is nothing easy about following after God. If I truly pursue Him, He will move in my life. He will lead me to places that I sometimes do not want to go. He will ask things of me that I do not want to give. If I shrink back during those times and allow my fears, preferences, or comforts to control my choices then I can rest assured that my confidence in my faith will be thrown away.

The first twenty-five verses in this chapter speak to the final way I throw away my faith. My past is full of mistakes. I have sinned. I have rebelled. I have intentionally done things in an attempt to get God to leave me alone. People have been hurt. My reputation has been destroyed. The case against me is loaded, and there is nothing about my past that would come close to qualifying me for service to God. I know these truths and there are days when I am tempted to remember them. There are days when I choose to allow my mind to dwell on these things and I remember them. Remembering the actions of my past without carrying them to the cross of grace is an absolute expressway to losing confidence.

Prayer:

My past is done. Those accounts are settled and I am no longer the man I was then. For that I am grateful. There are days when I hear a song, see a movie, or run into an old friend and suddenly I am carried to another time and place. Memories come rushing back and it is so very easy to allow them to bring condemnation. There are also times that these memories bring with them a false sense of better or easier days. I pray that You help me take captive these thoughts and burn them. I am forgiven and my best days are ahead of me. I have been redeemed and the way to true and abundant life is only found following after Your heart.

I am fighting through some thoughts of anger right now. The nature of life in general and my job in particular forces me to face a lot of negatives. These negatives come in the form of impossible situations, tragic losses, and just flat-out ornery people. It is hard to stay pure. The isolation and pressure created by this bring together the elements necessary to stir my heart towards anger. I ask that I be able to extend the same grace You have given me to others. Teach me to speak the truth in love and give me the strength I need to live with short accounts.

Following You in faith is not an invitation to stroll down a primrose path. There are seasons when standing on my faith means letting go of everything I hold to be safe. There are times when following You leads me to make choices that expose me and my family to great amounts of risk. Choosing faith means choosing to live counter to the world. It means going to war against a vicious enemy who has violent tactics. I do not want to shrink back. I do not want to quit. When the moment of truth faces me and I feel the full weight of the battle, I pray that I not shrink back like a coward but that I stand firm like the Lion of Judah.