Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.(Hebrews 10:35-36, NKJV)
In Hebrews 11:6, Paul says, “Without faith it’s IMPOSSIBLE to please God! Because he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” So much is implied here. We all know we are ‘saved by faith’ – it’s our evangelical message, saved, not by works, but by faith! It’s not what we do, it’s not any religious ceremony, but simply faith that Christ died for us and that He atoned for our sin!
But faith is much deeper than that. So much more than the first moment of our salvation. We need to LIVE by faith, we need to ACT by faith, we need to be FILLED with faith.
Faith is a simple, basic thing. For example, getting into bed, my wife used to accuse me of throwing myself into the bed, but it was in faith the bed wouldn’t collapse under me! We travel in our cars by faith, we cross the road by faith. But faith has to be translated into EVERY aspect of our Christian experience. The Scripture teaches us that we have to APPLY faith to every aspect of our lives.
In Hebrews 10, Paul is talking about the sacrifice Christ made for our sins, and the afflictions we may have to endure for our faith in Him. And in v35 he says something very strong, “Cast not away your CONFIDENCE which has great recompense of reward.” Here Paul is describing faith in a different way, faith as ‘confidence’! We can understand faith in so many ways. Yes, the faith to receive miracles of healing, faith to receive answers to prayer, but also the CONFIDENCE we have in our Christian walk. Watch people in the street. I like to ‘people-watch’! You see some people meandering along, aimless or pre-occupied. And there are those who are stepping out in confidence!
Faith should be, that when we get out of bed in the morning, we are confident God is with us. When we open the front door and step out into the day’s life, whatever is in store, we have confidence. It is confidence in God that has always boosted my life, bolstered my life, supported and strengthened my life. Even when I was in prison, I was confident God would deliver me. When I had the two cancers, in 1964 and 2002, I was confident that God would deliver me. Confidence is a different word to faith. I like the way Paul says, don’t throw away your CONFIDENCE, it has a great reward!