Hebrews 10:35-36 warns us to not "throw away our confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance..." This comes on the heels of his commending his readers for their faithful endurance in a time of testing and the encouragement they gave to others in the same. Past success is no guarantee of future faithfulness. We have all known people who were models of faithfulness through tremendously difficult times, who later collapsed in the face of relatively minor trials.
This 'throwing away of our confidence' intrigues me. There seems to be a fine line between a confidence in Christ that carries us through hard times, and a careless boldness that ignores both the disciplines that strengthen our faith and the danger signals that warn us of brewing trouble. This "throwing away" of our confidence seems more than the mere carelessness or weakness that plagues us all at times; it is an active negation of faith such as often happens when God's actions don't line up with our expectations. We get disappointed, and our disappointment often ends up in our actively throwing away, or abandoning our confidence in God.
Confidence in the faithfulness, love, and sovereignty of God is absolutely essential if we are to endure life's troubles. The text ends with the promise of Christ's return, and the reminder that "the just live by faith." In this life, we don't always get to see clearly the work and plan of God. St. Paul says, "We see through a glass, darkly." In his mysterious sovereignty, God doesn't often choose to reveal to us his plans. We may be able to discern the broad outlines of it, but the details baffle us. How does yesterday's earthquake in Nepal, with its devastation and loss of life fit into God's plan? How would we go about explaining God's work to a mother grieving the discovery of her daughter's body in the rubble of Kathmandu? We see darkly, at best, which is where faith comes in. Faith in the wisdom, mercy, and love of the Almighty Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is what gets us through those parts of life that make no sense to us.
But that faith; that confidence, is easily thrown away. It doesn't take much to divert our attention to the problems and troubles of this world. There is plenty going on that has the capability of destroying our confidence, and when confidence is gone, so is hope. We maintain our confidence by actively focusing on Christ and his promises. To let go of these would be fatal. But we hold on because as St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, "Christ has taken hold of us" (3:12). I am grateful tonight that Christ has taken hold of me. It is his grip on me that gives me the confidence I refuse to throw away. It takes faith to hold on, and faith comes through God's Word (Romans 10:17). So I keep reading, that I may develop the faith I need to hold on to that which I dare not discard. And I am thankful tonight for the warning the Scriptures give me to hold on and not let go.
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