A basis for confidence

Do you remember that scene in the film The Sound of Music? Maria is filled with doubts as she journeys towards the von Trapp home to take up her post as a nanny to the seven children. In order to psych herself up she muses, sings and dances to boost her confidence. There is the repeated lyric, ‘I have confidence in confidence alone’.

In recent years, some of our politicians have invested much in this psychological notion of confidence. Exude confidence, show confidence, speak of confidence and encourage confidence in others and confidence will produce tangible results. Before being drawn in, however, the sober-minded will wish to ask, ‘confidence in what?’ The temptation is to have, like Maria, confidence in confidence itself. Just like the words luck, chance, and fate etc., these words don’t describe anything of substance or reality. Confidence can be good to possess only when it is founded upon something reliable.

A similar thing occurs when we speak about faith. ‘If only I had more faith’ someone may moan as they anxiously seek a miracle. Listening to the teaching of Jesus, it might be concluded that he reinforces the idea that faith in and of itself has power to perform great things. For example, Jesus says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, which is tiny, then we may say to a mountain, ‘Go jump in the lake’, and it will. I don’t believe that Jesus wants us to become landscapers on a grand scale. We need to ask the question ‘faith in what?’ or, better still, ‘faith in whom?’ Christianity does not propose having faith in faith but rather faith in a person, namely Jesus.

Faith, hope and yes, confidence, each loom large in Christian teaching. Invariably, however, they are each grounded on God as Father of his people, his word as given in the Bible and on Jesus that same word but now in human form.

Conclusion? Be wary of groundless words and those who wish to draw you into their own misplaced confidence. Instead, have faith (i.e. trust) in God, confidence in his word and then hope in his loving care, which is now and forever.