Thought for the Day – Ephesians 3:12 on Confidence

As a business consultant for over 15 years now, I’ve learned that successful consultants possess two important attributes. The first, not surprisingly, is competence. Firms hire you because you have an expertise that can benefit them in some way. Without it, you can’t even get in the door. No expertise, no access. The second attribute, though, is probably more important. Confidence. Confidence is the willingness to move into the unknown believing in a positive outcome. And here’s where many would-be successful consultants fail. They have competence, but, in the face of a business challenge they’ve not seen before, they lack confidence they can perform the work. And it shows in their presentation to the prospective client. They got the access, but they didn’t get the account.

When I read this verse in Ephesians, it occurred to me that God is giving us both. By faith, borne of His amazing grace, we have freedom to approach the Holy One just as we are. His love overcomes our incompetence to gain access to heaven on our own. What’s more, He invites to approach Him with confidence. Confidence not in our competencies, but in His character. We have a loving Father that desires to open the storehouses of His account to us. (Phil 4:19) As the Apostle John wrote, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

Your thoughts? How’s your confidence level today?