The Source of Confidence by Heidi Dru Kortman

Text: Philippians 3:3ff.

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—”

When we read Philippians 3:3, we have to smile—having no confidence in the flesh is a description any of us could have written. Sometimes we envy the athletic, graceful people and the speed with which they complete daily tasks. Our clumsy bodies grudgingly perform the movements we demand.

Although the rest of the world is confident in physical skills, we are compelled to seek other, inner reasons to face life confidently. Where do we find them, and what could they be? The apostle Paul knew the answers to these questions. Look at verses seven to eleven—the source is Christ. What does he give us?

First, we receive righteousness, which is a close relationship to God made obvious to the world by the qualities in our character. Righteousness rebuilds our attitudes and lives to make them useful to God. 

Then we get to know Jesus our Savior as a real person. We get glimpses in our lives of his experiences, and our personal witness to his power becomes more effective. Finally, we will receive resurrection and eternal life in an unhindered body.

Receiving these gifts and using them is a step-by-step process that takes our entire lifetime. See verses twelve to fourteen. The difficult part is in verse thirteen: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead….”

It is so easy to look back and recount the times we were humiliated. Even now, more than fifty years after the fact, I could easily tell stories about embarrassing moments in my childhood. But dwelling on these things warps my character away from the glimpses I have had of God’s ideal for me.

It is also very easy to sit back and wait for the promises of the future to be delivered in nicely wrapped packages. Growth doesn’t happen that way. Progress is gradual and much slower than we wish. Our daily task is to make our growing maturity evident to the world.

We remember this: “Our citizenship is in Heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21)

.Heidi Dru Kortman DTM

God's gifts and call are irrevocable.

heididrukortman.com.

Heidi Dru Kortman, a CWG Apprentice graduate, ACFW member since 2004, and Word Weaver member has published devotionals in various newsletters, and a collected volume of devotionals. Her poetry, flash fiction, and short stories have appeared in small magazines, and a website. She is applying herself to the task of writing smoothly polished fiction.