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�Christ-confidence�
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Posted on: 4th Jun 2015
Mark 14:29-31 (ESV)
29 Peter said to him, �Even though they all fall away, I will not.� 30 And Jesus said to him, �Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.� 31 But he said emphatically, �If I must die with you, I will not deny you.� And they all said the same.
Mark 14:70-7 (NKJV)
70 But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, �Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.� 71 Then he began to curse and swear, �I do not know this Man of whom you speak!�
Reflections:
It seems we can always count on Peter to react out of his own self-confidence. After all, before he was converted, Peter he ran his own fishing business and seems to have been fairly successful. He owned his own boat and had people working for him. In order to do so, one has to develop a certain self-reliance. It was this self-confidence that often got him in a pickle.
Self-confidence (or self-anything), in the spiritual, is really not an asset. If we lean towards being self-confident we tend to seal ourselves off from others and lean towards being un-teachable by those we consider less intelligent, less educated or less �spiritually� advanced.
We find ourselves (without even realizing it) always looking down our spiritual noses; always trying to teach everybody around us, rather than listening with spiritual ears to what someone �of lesser spiritual degree� might be being spirit-led to speak. We find ourselves being subtly over assertive; even controlling, speaking louder than everyone else to be heard, unless of course it�s someone we consider more spiritual than ourselves.
Paul teaches us that it�s every member that provides spiritual insight through the gifting of the Holy Spirit -- it�s the parts that ought to make up the whole. I believe that 1 Cor 12 speaks to this issue.
Now �we know that �all of us possess knowledge.� This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor 8:1b).� This is perhaps why 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) follows the chapter on spiritual gifts. What we need is �Christ-confidence� in a surrendered, yielded heart. We are all a small piece of what God is doing; in need of the other parts of the body of Christ to make us complete �
Just to be on the safe side, why not sincerely ask the Holy Spirit if we, individually, are exhibiting self-confidence rather than Christ-confidence �
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