Am I Confident?

Security is such an important thing for us. We have passwords for our passwords, software to stop others snooping, locks on our doors and eyes on the back of our head.

Interest groups and pressure groups to ensure tht people like us are kept in the loop. We look for safety in numbers but constantly worry about fitting in with the crowd. Our consciousness of our image conscious culture tends to pick at our sense of security with the care and consideration of a vulture.

What do they think of me? How can I fit in?

We talk about wanting to raise confident kids but wonder if they belong to the least secure generation ever. We photoshop and air brush to create something we think we are not but ultimately want to be.

We subliminally convey a message of confidence on our social media platforms all while questioning why our life doesn't seem to match up to theirs, why their photos look happier and existence seems more exciting.

Our culture is one giant collective crisis of confidence.

We have the best health care in history but no security about the hereafter.

We have tremendous infrastructure but the nagging sense that when we need it most it will prove to be anything but infallible.

We have the greatest access to knowledge but the a niggling sense that we don’t know where our life is going.

We say we feel fine but know that won't last forever

We google illness because we are prone to fearing the worst, and live our lives with a sense of anxiety that always feels about to burst.

So when we see a question like 'am I confident?' we struggle to know what confidence really means.

Into that void speaks Hebrews 10 'Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…'

It assumes confidence… yet the last time we assumed any kind of confidence was when we were babies running around with no clothes on because it never occurred to us to care.

How can we have confidence about anything and especially about entering the holy places (by which it means the place where God is)?

It is talking about eternal confidence. A confidence about what happens at the end of all this. Which just leads to more questions...

Am I confident that I am in the top however many percent of people I need to be in to qualify to enter the place where God is at the end of all this?

I mean how can anyone really ever be confident about something like tht?

How can be I confident about what lies beyond this life?

How can I be confident about Heaven and eternity?

There are 2 clues in this one sentence in Hebrews 10. The first is obvious.

Our confidence to enter the place where God is by the blood of Jesus. So instantly our attention is drawn to the cross where Jesus bled and died. So we can have confidence when we understand that Jesus died to allow us to trust His death so that we nd no longer fear death.

The second clue is in the word therefore… where the blood of Jesus throws our attention at the cross. The word therefore draws our attention to what has come before in Hebrews 10 where it tells us that 'when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God' (10:12) A single sacrifice for sins, including your sins. Just listen to what he is offering and look at where he is sitting.

Then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. (10: 17-18) Listen to gracious forgetfulness and look at eternal forgiveness. Think about all the wrong you have done and being treated by God as if there was none.

That is what the forgiveness that Jesus offers is like. Condemnation removed, confidence restored. You see, I can be confident because Jesus was condemned to die on a cross. I can be confident because He carried my sin and brokenness and guilt.