Confident
We’re reaching the end of the conversation in this Upper Room. Much has been said. Many questions have been answered. There’s been a lot to take in. You can imagine the disciples in this moment. At some points, silenced in awe. At other points, nodding along. And then more recently, the furrowed brows as they struggle to truly grasp what Jesus is saying about Him going away.
And then right at the end of the conversation, we’re given this almost comical view, as the disciples declare their understanding of all that Jesus has said. They seem so confident all of a sudden. And yet, such confidence is met with sobering words from Jesus:
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each of you to your own home. You will leave me all alone.”
t’s a heavy reality presented before them. However confident their declarations are, they jostle alongside shaky faith. The frailty of the disciples’ commitment to Christ will soon be laid bare. It’s easy to look down on them at this moment isn’t it? And yet, I think we’re given this snapshot to remind us that we’re more alike than we’d like to admit.
How often do confident assertions of our faith in Christ get waylaid when the heat is turned up? When suffering greets us at the door? Or when we’re tested beyond what we can bear? It’s ever so easy to say, or write about our belief in God. It’s way harder to live it out.
But here’s the thing we need to remember: Our confidence is never in ourselves but in Christ.
As Spurgeon famously once said,
“It is not the strength of your faith that saves you, but the strength of Him upon whom you rely.”
And this is what Christ confidently proclaims in the face of scarpering sinners:
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
What glorious words on the lips of Christ. There’s no misplaced confidence here, but utter assurance that the victory is his. Dear sister, you of shaky faith, take heart as you hear the words of Christ to you today: I have overcome the world.
