PART 6 I AM AN OVERCOMER

How do we make the Lord our confidence?

6 

Making the Lord Your Confidence

     

What is confidence?

In the natural realm, confidence is the assurance of performing our talent or skill successfully. Unfortunately, while receiving recognition for our accomplishments, we can entertain thoughts and express words and behavior undermining our achievements. Here’s a story about such a person.

 

WHO IS OSCAR PISTORIUS? FROM ‘BLADE RUNNER’ TO CONVICTED MURDERER

Former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius will be released from prison in January. A decade on [from Valentine’s Day,] when he shot his girlfriend dead, Sky News looks at his past, his crime, and the trial that gripped the world.

The trial of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius gripped the world in 2014 when he was convicted of murdering his [girlfriend,] Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius has now served half his sentence and on Friday faced a second chance at parole after he was ruled ineligible for early release from prison in March. The decision was reached that the former Paralympic champion will be released from prison in January, nearly 11 years after murdering [Ms.] Steenkamp.

The parole will last until [5 December 2029,] and he will be subject to conditions. The 37-year-old won’t be able to leave his area of Pretoria without [permission;] he must attend therapy for anger issues and “gender-based violence issues,” and he will do community service. He is expected to spend the period at his uncle’s mansion in a wealthy [suburb. The] same place he stayed during the trial.

 

Who is Oscar Pistorius?

Oscar Pistorius is a former Olympic and Paralympic athlete and a convicted murderer. He was born in South Africa in 1986. At 11 months old, both his legs were amputated below the knee because of a congenital defect. He ran on prosthetic blades - hence the nickname Blade Runner.

Until 2013, he was mostly known for his sporting prowess, winning gold at the Paralympics and making history as the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics. Then, on the morning of 14 February 2013, Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, South Africa.

 

The murder of Reeva Steenkamp

[Ms.] Steenkamp, 29, was shot dead by Pistorius while she was in the toilet. Pistorius has always insisted the shooting was a mistake, saying he thought an intruder was in the house and he feared for his safety. He fired four shots through a locked toilet door, hitting [Ms.] Steenkamp in the head, [hip,] and arm.

Pistorius claimed in court that it was only when he battered down the door with a cricket bat that he [realized] who was behind it. The prosecution argued the murder was premeditated and Pistorius shot [Ms.] Steenkamp after an argument. Part of their argument rested on saying Pistorius was wearing his prosthetic legs at the time of the shooting - they said the time taken to put them on was evidence of premeditation. Pistorius testified he was on his stumps, a claim that was backed up by a ballistic expert’s analysis.

 

Changing charges and sentences

Pistorius was initially not found guilty of murder and was instead convicted of culpable homicide (the equivalent of a manslaughter charge in the UK). He was sentenced to five years in [2014] and was eventually released from prison and placed under house arrest. [In 2015,] that conviction was overturned when South Africa’s supreme court of appeal found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to six years in prison - which was then increased to 13 years and five months in 2017 after the sentence was deemed “shockingly too lenient” in an appeal.

 

Parole hearings

Pistorius will now be released from prison early [after serving] half his jail sentence of 13 years and five months. In South Africa, prisoners become eligible for parole after serving half their sentence. The parole board considered his case again after denying him parole in March.

The decision to give him a second parole hearing came after his lawyer took his case to the Constitutional Court over errors made by the court in calculating when Pistorius would be eligible for parole. He was initially told he would only be eligible in August 2024, when he was in [fact,] eligible in March. Granting a second hearing was seen as effectively an admission of the appeal court’s error.

The parole board takes a number of factors into account, including the prisoner’s conduct and disciplinary record in prison, their mental [health,] and the likelihood of them committing another crime. Last [year,] he met with [Ms.] Steenkamp’s father as part of a process called victim-offender dialogue, which gives crime victims the chance to meet with offenders before they become eligible for parole. Speaking ahead of the first parole hearing, [Ms.] Steenkamp’s mother said he was “not remorseful.”²²

Confidence in self-effort while operating in a fallen nature can only lead to one thing: downfall. How many of us, including myself, have thought that life was about becoming the best of ourselves in whatever endeavor we decided to pursue? Only to find out that it all can come crashing down like a house of cards over one ill-advised decision.

On the other hand, many people live with a lack of self-confidence due to varied circumstances. Here’s the question to consider: whether you’re in either category.

 

What should form the basis for confidence?

More schooling? Better upbringing? Different pier group? Better job?

Let’s take a look at some verses that will provide us with this insight.

John 14:23a, 26 Jesus answered and said … But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 15:1, 4 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

We’re told that if a believer abides in Christ ([lives a life of dependence on Him, obeys his doctrines, imitates His example, and constantly exercises faith in Him]²³), they’ll bear fruit. Bearing fruit can refer to exhibiting fruitfulness. And fruitfulness can mean productivity or abundance. In what sense? Our skill or talent? No. Of the Son’s life being reproduced in a disciple.²⁴

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

By analogy, this refers to developing the elements of character that each Christian has received at salvation. Are you getting it?

Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Our confidence is enriched and elevated as we walk in the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit means to be filled with the Spirit or be under the guidance, impulses, and energy of that life.²⁵ What this entails is a process known as progressive sanctification. What is this all about? This is the process by which the Holy Spirit eliminates sin from the experience of the believer and produces His fruit, gradually conforming him into the image of the Lord Jesus.²⁶ While I’m not going to give you specific examples of how to address certain sins in this chapter, some of such will be forthcoming as you continue in this study. The verses I’ll leave you with below stress the importance of putting our confidence in God’s Word.

Psalms 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse (keep pure) his way (conduct)? by taking heed (governing oneself) thereto according to thy word.

Ps 119:67 Before (at an earlier time) I was afflicted (oppressed) I went astray (to live in the neglect of one’s soul; to err mentally): but now have I kept (to treasure up in memory; to meditate upon) thy word.

Ephesians 4:22-23 That ye put off (take off like clothes) concerning the former conversation the old man (the person we used to be), which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (lusts of which were excited by deceit, i.e., by deceitful influences seducing to sin); And be renewed in the spirit of your mind (to be spiritually transformed, to take on a new mind; appropriating God’s perspective);

Becoming proficient in what we’ll talk about next will help us remain consistent in overcoming ungodly thoughts, whether they originate from our sinful nature or evil projections.