Today’s Scripture Reading (August 29,
2014): Mark 5
A recent
article espousing ways to build self-confidence placed ‘dressing sharp’ at the
top of the list. (The full list included
1. Dress Sharp, 2. Walk Faster, 3. Good Posture [maybe your mother was right
all along], 4. Personal Commercial [listing all of your good points], 5. Gratitude,
6. Compliment other people [strangely enough this is something that I find
people lacking in self-confidence rarely do], 7. Sit in the Front Row [that one
surprised me], 8. Speak Up, 9. Work Out, 10. Focus on Contribution.) The reality of our lives is that
self-confidence is incredibly important to what we are able to achieve in life.
Without it, some things we will never do because we will never even try to
attempt it. I know I have a list of things in my life that I have not done
partially because I lack the self-confidence to even attempt to complete the
task. There are people that I have avoided and not met because of a
self-confidence issue. If I am honest, I routinely find that those around me often
have more confidence in my abilities than I do. More than any other single
factor, including drive, it is a lack of self-confidence that prevents tasks
from being completed. A lack of self-confidence is a problem that will
ultimately shape my life. And I don’t think that I am alone.
Jairus, the
leader of the local synagogue comes to Jesus. He has a problem, his daughter is
sick. And as Mark tells the story, there is an interruption. Jesus seems to
lose focus on Jairus as he attends to a sick woman, and by the time Jesus
returns his attention to Jairus, the girl has died. And now Jairus has a
decision. Part of the decision is definitely how much faith does he have in
this teacher, but it is also how much faith has he placed in himself to make
the right decisions. His friends encourage him to walk away, to not bother the
teacher. The word bother would seem to indicate a critical lack of
self-confidence, he no longer feels worthy to approach the teacher. But he has
also pushed himself to the front row when he probably would have rather faded
into the background.
Jesus hears
the conversation between Jairus and his friends and his words in return to this
conversation are “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” The object of that belief is
left open ended. Yes, it definitely would have included belief in Jesus, but it
also would have been directed at Jairus himself. Jairus could walk away now
underscoring his own lack of importance in the world of Jesus, or he could
place the impossible task at the feet of the teacher to see what he might be able
to do.
Jairus
summons every bit of his own self-confidence and gives his problem and his sorrow
to Jesus. It is a task that each of us has to do at some point in our lives.
And it is often a lack of self-confidence as opposed to a lack of faith in
Jesus that stops us from laying our problems at the teacher’s feet. We have
great faith in God, but we have no idea why he should care for us. So we stop,
never even bothering to bring our troubles to Jesus. And our questions are never
answered not because there are no answers, but because our own lack of
self-confidence has stopped them from being asked.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew
9
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