After heart surgery, they had me do therapy: Twelve weeks, three days each week, an hour each day.
At first, I thought it was only about getting stronger physically. However, as the weeks rolled by I realized that the biggest benefit had more to do with my head than with my heart.
When you have surprise, serious surgery, a deep fear settles in. Every odd feeling brings back concerns of a return to the hospital. You are not sure of how much you can exert yourself. It's tempting to play it safe and become a couch potato.
Therapy builds confidence. The routine they gave me was simply metered exercised with supervision. They wired me up so that any irregularities of the heart are known. As days passed by and my capacity for activity increased, fear melted away and confidence increased.
Confidence is a big thing for all of us. It should be one of the main things we impart to those we are training. It is a major component of maturity.
However some people become over-confident. It becomes arrogance. They don't need any one else. They are not fun to be around. They can become dangerous.
What is the fine line between confidence and arrogance? Perhaps at it's core, true confidence is all about God and arrogance is all about us. At one point, Israel "chickened out" of trusting God enough to enter into the promised land. After God told them that his blessing was not on them to enter the land they repented, exhibited a new-found confidence and tried to enter the land on their own. They failed miserably. God saw their self-confidence and called them "arrogant." They were trying to be brave on their own.
We have great reason to be confident. God's love and pursuit of us is irrefutable. The church is guaranteed to succeed. The Holy Spirit lives in us and he never fails. Even if we don't see results, faithfulness all by itself is success.
Jesus loves to take our small acts of obedience and multiply the results beyond anything we can imagine. Our message is "good" news. Our power is like what God used to raise Jesus from the dead. Our prospects are nothing but positive.
Be confident. Not arrogant.
¶ 11:49 AM
