When Does Confidence Become Pride?

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded – Hebrews 10:35(NIV)

Confidence is a great virtue; it has countless rewards. Real confidence is the master key to enjoying real success. It is, for example, among the 10 top leadership qualities. A person devoid of real confidence should never dream of being a real leader. Why? Real leaders think and act differently from the crowd. Thus they live unusual lives, and it takes real confidence to maintain such lifestyles. Albert and Comfort Ocran said it best when they wrote, ‘Leaders are authentic and original. They are not afraid to be different. Indeed, they actually celebrate their sense of uniqueness through their words and actions. Jesus was often emphatic about who He was and who He was not. Even though He often ended up offending the religious establishment of His time, He was still emphatic that He was not just another rabbi but “the Son of God” and “The Way, The Truth and The Life”’. However, confidence if not checked can translate into pride, the bad one! Confidence becomes pride if it remains at the first level of confidence-self-confidence.

There are two levels of confidence: self-confidence and God-confidence. Apostle Paul captured the two levels of confidence when he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” – Philippians 4:13(KJV). The clauses “I can do all things”, and “through Christ which strengthens me” respectively refers to self-confidence, and God-confidence. The language of the self-confident is “I can!” For TD Jakes, “Self-confidence is all about self-perception”. Thus it is about the thinking pattern, positive or negative, of a person. And one becomes who she thinks. Lester Sumrall once said, “Those who say I can! Can; and those who say I cannot! Cannot. The power is in both words”. I therefore agree with Dr. Fines Moono that “the sky is not the limit. Your mind is the limit. What you limit in your mind cannot be achieved”. Truly, it is less debilitating to be physically crippled than to be crippled in your self-perception. Thus it is vital for a person to have faith in herself. People who do not have faith in themselves are usually emotionally invalids, dysfunctional and miserable. Besides, they do not see themselves as resources but constantly search for someone to draw from. However, self-confidence as important as it is is not enough. It must be complimented by God-confidence.

God-confidence is one’s inner-confidence. For Bishop David Oyedepo, “It is your inner-confidence that guarantees your outer-confidence”. This means that outer-confidence (self-confidence) without inner-confidence has no foundation. And anything without a foundation is just a package of deception and short-lived. Such a faith can never be trusted. Strength, wealth, popularity, knowledge, hope and faith fail. That is why it is sheer foolishness to put one’s confidence in worldly things or people. Thus it is very important for any self-confident person to also have faith in God. It is only through God that we find greatness. There is no greatness outside God. Besides, God is the only strength of life in all situations. TD Jakes wrote, “There are some obstacles that will confront you and require more than positive attitudes. These challenges require a resolute, unshakable faith in God”. Without God, confidence is confusion!

Self-confidence that is not founded on God-confidence is pride! Yes, it is pride to try to achieve greatness in life without depending on God through Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul is one of the greatest men in history; his secret was his balanced and potent combination of self and God confidence. For him, “To live is Christ…” Consequently, nothing was impossible to him. He was marvelously knowledgeable, and supremely influential. He was also a prolific writer. Apostle Paul for instance authored 13 out of the 27 New Testament books. Is your confidence balanced?

Richard Obeng Mensah, co-author of 37 Benefits of Reading. borncapy@yahoo.com/www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com