Actually, the Ruby Club has had it's final meeting already. We had a set schedule that ended with the summer, but since I have not posted on the studies when we did them, I get to remind myself of the lessons we (I) learned.
As I mentioned previously, here, we spent much time searching scriptures for the meaning of mercy, and for examples of it. Another topic we covered that is valid for Christian women was confidence.
We questioned what it means to be confident as a Christian. We searched the scriptures for examples of confidence, both good and bad. For instance, Jezebel (2Kings) had alot of confidence in everything that she did - but it was confidence in herself, bad example. David, as a young man, however (1 Samuel) had great confidence, as well - and it was confidence in God, good example. The end result of each of these lives speaks clearly of where our confidence is to be built.
Confidence for Christians comes from a growing relationship with Christ (Proverbs: 26&27); we find confidence in His love (Deuteronomy 7:6-9); confidence in our ability to make it through trials (Luke 1:37, Phil. 1:6, Phil. 4:13); confident in our future (Psalm 27:14); confident in our relationship with Him (John 10:25-30).
Lack of confidence comes with a limited relationship with the Lord, or no real relationship at all (Ephesians 4:14). As a group, the Rubies considered how easily Satan can pull our focus away from Christ and onto ourselves and our weaknesses/failures. Each of us had an example from our own lives where we were not confident enough to accompish "something" for the glory of God; whether that be missing an opportunity to witness, ignoring God's lead to serve in some way, or following our friends in an action/behaviour that we knew was wrong.
To end our meeting on a positive note, we helped each other find areas in our lives where we were showing confidence in our faith and therefore being the peculiar people we are called to be (1Peter 2:9).
As Christian women we can stand up to adversity and criticism because...God loves us, that makes us valuable - that is where our confidence is found.
1 comment:
Confidence is such an important topic for women because we can be so insecure, and young women often have a double dose of self doubt! It's wonderful that you pointed the Rubies away from self-confidence and on to God-confidence. That is a vital lesson.
Post a Comment