Absolute Madness!

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "May infinite wisdom cure us of the madness of self-confidence." Indeed.

The only confidence any of us can have in ourSELVES is that when we step out in our own strength, we will fail, sin and generally mess things up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting human initiative or any achievement people might attain. I mean, hey, we went to the moon, right?

What I'm saying is that in matters of our spiritual lives, we must depend wholly upon God.

~It is madness to believe that we can do anything to merit God's mercy.

~It is madness to believe that we can resist sin without the Holy Spirit's power.

~It is madness to believe that we are saved by any other means than grace.

~It is madness to grasp at any glory for ourselves in our work for God.

~It is madness to imagine that ANY gift or talent we have is something we have created ourselves.

This axiom also has great merit in matters that are not-so-spiritual. Humility has value in all arenas of life and does NOT exclude confidence; confidence and humility can definitely co-exist. The important thing is in what or Whom the confidence is rooted. The disaster comes when "self" is appended to the "confidence."

There really is GREAT confidence to be had when we live in the realization that, indeed, God has gifted His people specifically and mankind in general with outstanding abilities, and that these abilities have their source in His creative, eternal mind and they all show forth His glory.