"Confidence"

Acts 2.1a, 14a, 29a, 32a NIV

“When the day of Pentecost came… Peter... addressed the crowd: 

‘Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently... God raised this Jesus to life...’”

Confidence is a tricky thing. We can act confident, but even a good act is still an act. You cannot ‘fake it until you make it.’ If you pump yourself up with positive thinking and self-talk, you, like a balloon, are only a negative pin prick away from deflation. When it comes to confidence, you either have it, or you don’t.

Many people carry insecurity and a persistent inner voice reminding them: “I suspect I am a phony. On my best days I can almost fool myself. I don’t really believe in myself and if others really knew me, neither would they. I’m truly a loser. The only thing real about me is... I'm a real poser.”

In her wonderful little book For Women Only ~ What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men,[1] author Shaunti Feldhahn refers to the “impostor complex” which drives a man to “put up a good front so others will think he’s highly competent.” In a survey conducted by Feldhahn, she discovered that “no matter how secure the men looked on the outside, two-thirds admitted being insecure about others’ opinion of them.”

Was Peter the exception? Could he really “tell you confidently” about Christ on the day of Pentecost? Peter proved his insecurity when a rooster crowed on the night of Christ’s crucifixion (Matthew 18.27). His promise and bravado wasn’t much good then. What happened fifty days later on the day of Pentecost? The apostle was no longer afraid. Peter would “tell you confidently” that “God raised Jesus to life.” I want what Peter (eventually) got.

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[1] For Women only ~ What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men, Shaunti Feldhahn, Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004. Shaunti Feldhahn has appeared on such diverse media outlets as PBS, TNT, Soap Talk, The Alan Colmes Show, Focus on the Family, Family Life Today, and The 700 Club. Her weekly opinion columns are printed in fifty newspapers around the country, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, and The Seattle Times. Check out her site at http://www.4-womenonly.com.