"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Wednesday, 02 December 2009 | |||
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Be Confident Until Then | |||
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Thirty years ago I was fairly confident of my ability to
lift the hood on a car that wasn't running, understand what I was looking
at, puzzle out the problem and possibly even fix it. More recently, I
might still say much the same about a misbehaving computer (as long as
it's not a Mac). Yet the complexity of automobile mechanics has now
diminished my confidence and computer software and hardware are rapidly
getting away from me. Now I often put my confidence in someone else for
auto repair and the day is coming when I will do the same with our
computers. In our text this week, Paul tells how his confidence in himself diminished in regard to the greatest matters in his life. In Philippians 3:1-11, we learn that Paul switched his confidence from his own personal pedigree, good behavior and zeal, and learned to place confidence in Jesus Christ. There's nothing wrong (I hope) with a little self-confidence in practical living, whether it be auto repair, cooking or personal communication. Yet our records of brokenness and failure mean that we will ultimately be overwhelmed if we trust in our own skills to sort out, repair and deal with every area of life. In particular, self-confidence is not particularly desirable in spiritual matters and may lead to a false sense of security and pride in relationship to God and one's spiritual condition. Much better to learn with Paul to count all those sources of personal confidence as a loss (verse 7) in order to base confidence more strongly in the secure gift of grace that comes to us through Christ. Such reliance on the Lord may come easily when we are feeling overwhelmed by life, just as it's easy for me to take my car to a professional mechanic when I realize a problem is over my head. But Paul shows us that it's important to focus our reliance on Jesus even when we seem to be handling life pretty well. His recitation of his own resources and competencies in verses 4-6 is only to teach us that such things can offer a false sense of security and hope. In Advent, we are especially called to be confident only in that which will stand us in good stead in the Day of the Lord, the day of Judgment, the Day of Resurrection, when we all stand before God to give account of ourselves. Such confidence is only available in and through the grace of Christ. | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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