Press the arrow to listen to Nichole Nordeman sing “Brave” as you read today’s devotion self-confidence.

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Scripture
“We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Numbers 13:33

Observation
The greatest risk in life is not what we think of ourselves. Nor is it what others think of us. The greatest limitation in life is what we think others think of us.  If we imagine that others think of us as pretty, clever, handsome, athletic, winsome or whatever positive, we will live up to their expectation. If however if we interpret the silence or the body language of others wrongly we will pull ourselves back because we do not think of ourselves as able.

Where does this pervasive human insecurity come from?  All inferiority is based in pride. It seems odd to think of a person with low self-worth as being proud, but they are living a pride based life. Pride is living without a foundation in God’s approval over us. As soon as we try to live life without God’s love we are left to either boasting or bagging ourselves. Both are a form of pride, because they are human attempts to exist without an trusting in what God says about us in his word.

There is power in humility. Humility is not the humiliation of putting down our strengths. Instead, humility is simply walking with God. On the one hand, standing next to God, I know who I am and what I’m not. On the other hand, standing next to God, there is a power to draw from outside of myself.

Application
It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” The purpose of Moses’ spy mission, was not to learn about the land, but to discover what was in the hearts of the people. New challenges can make me feel inadequate. I can misinterpret the giants around me and deprecate my potential. Instead, I’m called to live in what God has said about me. My very favourite spot in the Bible to restore my self-confidence is Ephesians 1. There I find a hearty list of depictions of who I am in Christ:

blessed…with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

He chose us in Him

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself

the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved

in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses

In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will…the summing up of all things in Christ

His kind intention which He purposed in Him

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance

we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise

Prayer
Father, today, help me to see myself through the eyes of God and not through the eyes of the giants. Amen.