Fox News – by Jason F. WrightOne of my favorite people on the planet suffers from a confidence deficit.
It’s heartbreaking.
We have many mutual friends, and everyone in her path finds her talented, articulate, dedicated, focused and faithful. This friend is lovely inside and out, and she seems to be the only person who disagrees.
She’s in a near-constant state of doubt about her real value. “Am I a failure? Am I good enough? Smart enough? Am I trying hard enough? Giving up too easily? Am I being kind? Generous? Am I reading the Bible enough? Serving enough? Praying enough?”
My self-doubting friend shouldn’t worry about our opinions, but about what God thinks. Doesn’t He know the goodness in each of us and how much potential we possess?
The doubts spread and multiply like a dangerous virus. Oh, if only she knew.
She’s a force!
She’s amazing!
She’s great!
Plus, she holds untapped potential to be even greater!
During one recent exchange, my mind ignited an idea that I’m pretty sure I didn’t plant there. In a flash, I realized that we’d had it wrong all along.
My self-doubting friend shouldn’t worry about our opinions, but about what God thinks. Doesn’t He know the goodness in each of us and how much potential we possess?
Then, with this theme, I posed a few leading questions.
“Do you believe God is your Creator?”
“Yes.”
“Your literal Father in heaven?”
“Of course.”
“Is He perfect?”
“Yes.”
“Does He love you?”
Her humble smile and the gathering tears answered for her.
“All right. So He’s our Creator, our Father, He’s perfect and He loves us. If that’s all true, then would any of us be built for failure?”
She shook her head.
“Well then,” I said. “It’s time to ‘shrink the gap’ between who you think you are, and who God thinks you are. No, we’re not perfect, but He doesn’t make mistakes. We are divine creations with divine potential.”
I reminded her that we are all unique with different talents, strengths and weaknesses, but we all have one thing in common.
No one ever has been predestined for failure. We are built for success.
I know what you’re thinking. You’ve been there, too.
We all have. It’s natural. We doubt. We question. We cry out for a reminder that we’re not alone.
We each have days when we wake up and wonder if our prayers are powerful enough to reach the all-powerful.
I think you and I, and my friend, plus your neighbor, plus your neighbor’s neighbor, all suffer from a flexible confidence gap that constantly expands and shrinks between our self-imposed limits and the eternal potentials of heaven. But if God’s power is limitless, and if all of our talents, gifts and abilities come from Him, then aren’t they also limitless?
Consider that. You are unique, so is my friend, and she is talented in many ways. So are you. Those gifts come from an infinite Creator who knows us intimately, even how many hairs are on our heads.
We’re flawed, selfish, impatient and prone to repeat mistakes. No, we’re not perfect, but our Father is. And that’s the miracle that matters most!
Of course we must remain deferential, humble and attribute all our success to Him. But we also should never, ever doubt His best work. (That’s you!)
I sure hope my friend is listening, but by now I understand that it’s not just about her. It’s about all of us. May we all recognize that none of us are meant for failure, because we’re all meant for Him.
Let’s shrink the gap.
Jason Wright is a New York Times bestselling author, columnist and speaker. Subscribe to his weekly columns, join him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. His columns are also available as ebook compilations.
He’s perfect? He doesn’t make mistakes? “No, we’re not perfect, but our Father is. …we must remain deferential, humble and attribute all our success to Him.”
If “god” is all that…considering the condition of the world and endless wars (many based on conflicting reglious dogma)…if this is gods will, he is one sick, psychotic bastard.
“When one person suffers from a delusion it is called ‘insanity’. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called ‘religion.
God places a high value on authority because He is the one who created it. The Bible says that all authority comes from and originates with God. He is the absolute source of authority in the universe, and has delegated His principle of authority to mankind to maintain order in the world. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Rom. 13:1-2).
God’s Word says that followers of Christ should be obedient to secular laws and government, because according to scripture, secular authority is intended to be a “minister of God for our good” (Rom. 13:4), and serves His purpose of keeping law and order on the earth (1 Pet. 2:14-15). The Apostle Paul wrote, “…submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good” (1 Pet. 2:13-14).
I REALLY don’t understand how people who pride themselves on critical thinking and have taken the time to research history, the origins of government and the origins of religions can remain “faithful” to such utter nonsense.
Religion and gods were a very deliberate creation to keep the masses compliant. Its tough enough to get people to break through the statist indoctrination of patriotism which is required when learning what government is truly all about…but when most people are also brainwashed into believing that there is an invisible playmate in the sky also commanding your obedience…well, it just makes our job of waking people up that much more difficult.
No way that is an accident. Unfortunately religion remains surprisingly popular for even “truth seekers”, as most people are unquestioning and basically looking to be told what to think and do.
In my opinion,the biblical YWH is little more than Zeus with a yemulke. There is a huge gap between religion and spirituality. The question of individual approaches to a belief in Deity is a debate that can be very devisive as we all, no doubt have our own personal beliefs. If we wish to use this forum for those debates we should keep an open mind lest it devolve into argument and hard feelings.
About what I expected in the comments so far: mention God, and the atheists go bonkers! Completely missed the point of the article, which is stop giving a crap about what others think of you, whether you believe in God or not! Psychology has terms for this: external and internal locus of control. This friend in the post has too much external locus of control while she needs more internal locus. Now is this explanation good enough for the atheists on here? Sheesh!
DL.
I read and understood the article and I didn’t go “bonkers”. I was a believer for MOST of my 50+ years on this planet so I understand why and how people became religious. What I have also found (in relation to your friend) is that once you start living in reality and accept personal responsibility for your life and actions…instead of having faith that “god” or prayer will somehow save or “fix” whatever ails you…your life both mentally and physically improve drastically. (after the month or two it takes to get over the pain of being deceived for decades) But, the pain passes and living in reality is FAR FAR more rewarding.
Peace and Love,
Hey, you know what? Let’s forget about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Let’s have a religious war wherein we Americans can slaughter one another and save the communists the trouble.
This makes me f#@king sick when I see it. It’s like this, you stupid assholes, either we put our differences aside and unite under our Bill of Rights absolute, or we are finished.
Your call.
I completely agree, Henry. The BOR delineates the right to speak as we please, worship as we please and the freedom to debate as gentlemen the points we may disagree on. How many times have some of us had heated arguments about which football team is best. That does not, nor should it, change our opinions of the other fellows basic decency and commitment to freedom.
By the way, for anyone interested, I’m not an atheist.
I’m just surprised FOX News published something like this. Isn’t that politically incorrect and wrong to do in the MSM these days?
The one glaring omission in this article is the name of Jesus.
Yeah I thought that article my stir up a little bit of excitement. I have always wanted to sneak a cat into a dog show.