At the same time, we need to remember that we were "dead in our sins" and doomed. We were enemies of the cross and despised God. He said, "Enough!" and came to make things right; to clear everything up - because of His love for us. We can't take the credit for what Jesus did. He is our hope and confidence. To take the credit for what He has done would be blasphemous and spiritual plagiarism.
Reading the book by A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, really made sense of this balance; from a Christian perspective. Tozer has some amazing words he shares in his book that was written in the 1960's. He was very wise and passionate about knowing Christ and teaching others about Him. The book is a "must read" for your journey to know Christ deeper and more personally.
I also read an article (see below) from Robert Kiyosaki about developing Confidence while practicing humility. It's a good section from his article. We all need to spend prayer time asking God for wisdom on this delicate balance of humility and confidence. It sure beats shame and arrogance. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free...do not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!" Galatians 5:1.
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Develop Your Confidence While Practicing Humility
by Robert Kiyosaki
Confidence is one of the single biggest contributing factors to your success. Arrogance— on the other hand—can be the greatest stumbling block. Ignoring your limitations, especially when it comes to knowledge, can quickly get you in over your head. So how do you develop confidence without crossing the line into arrogance? Confidence is nothing more than a memory of past successes and faith in your ability to handle what lies ahead. Arrogance comes into the mix when your memory of past successes becomes colored by time and you start thinking every good thing that has happened is solely because of you and every bad thing was caused by someone else’s incompetence.
The truth is anyone can claim brilliance with the benefit of hindsight. The trick is to understand what you did not know at the time, how you gathered the information, whose expertise you leaned on, and what role good fortune played in the mix. The path to success requires you to leave your comfort zone repeatedly. This is the
only way you will grow. When you leave your comfort zone, you are in uncharted territory for you. However, it is not uncharted for everyone. If you build your network (see above) and humble yourself to use it, you will have a resource that will help instill in you confidence—but not arrogance—to use your knowledge, skills, and abilities to tackle any problem that may lie along your path as you venture outside of your comfort zone
and move towards attaining your goal.
Another excellent way to practice humility is to mentor or share what you know with others. On the surface, this may sound counter-intuitive. You may say, “Don’t I need to be an expert if I am going to teach someone?” While a solid understanding is foundational, sharing what you know with others forces you to examine your knowledge more objectively. What do you truly know? Do you know why it works or are you just sharing past experiences that happened to turn out successfully?
It is often said that the teacher learns more than the student does. Sharing your knowledge with others will help you identify gaps in your knowledge base and create a list of topics you can work from to further your own education thus helping you know what you do not know and keeping you from crossing over the line from confidence to arrogance.
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