Confidence is preparation

It seems everything you buy today has an add-on warranty. Typically, I don't buy these warranties. I see it as just paying more for the item. Plus I don't think I will ever be able to provide the proof of the extended warranty if the need arises. I will most likely misplace the receipt and I will be no better off for having paid extra. But there are people that do buy these things. They have a lack of confidence the product will hold up under the strain and pressure of use. Do I as a Christian need an extended warranty to hold up? At times I know I lacked faith and sorely lacked confidence in that faith. How can we have more confidence in what we believe?

“Confidence comes from being prepared.” For those of you that follow college basketball maybe John Wooden’s quote may inspire you. He did win a lot of college basketball games and apparently is pretty famous for having done so. I don't follow college sports, I just liked the quote. I think it is spot on. The need to be “prepared”. We as Christians are called to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us 1 Peter 3:15.  Part of that preparation is to gain confidence in our ability to defend our faith.

As Christians, the defense of our faith can be as varied as our personalities. God has provided ample evidence regardless of where our interest lie.  It doesn’t matter if you are a biologist, astrophysicist, historian, or a layperson. We have not been asked to believe anything about Christianity on faith alone. We have been given a multitude of facts we can use to help people see the hope within us. This evidence helps us build a reasonable case that Christianity is true. We just need to invest the time to understand our facts well enough to explain them.

Faith = Belief + Action. Faith can be translated to a belief coupled with action. In other words, if you have a belief and doing something about it you show faith.  If I have faith I will most likely have some belief and action associated with my faith. It is proportionate to the amount of faith I have. A little faith = a little belief and a little action. Stronger faith = stronger belief and stronger action. How can we reinforce that and make it stronger?

Evidence x (Belief + Action) =  Reinforced Faith. Evidence actually multiplies my faith by the amount of evidence I uncover. What I have discovered in my journey of apologetics is the more evidence for Christianity I research the stronger my faith gets. The stronger my faith the more I believe. The stronger my belief the bolder my actions. By listening to podcasts and reading books on apologetics my faith has increased. Doing these blogs helps me organize my thoughts. It all feeds into itself. With reinforced faith, I become a bolder Christian. Speaking out more confidently about my faith. That creates the action of stating my conviction more publicly and willingness to engage unbelievers more readily. Which in turn motivates me to want to study more and further investigate the truths of our faith. Adding evidence gives me more confidence.

(Evidence x (Belief + Action)) + Confidence = Convicted Faith That reinforced faith gives me great confidence. Adding confidence into our thinking moves us to a convicted unshakable faith. We should ignore the outcry from those trying to diminish our faith by calling it blind, silly or unnecessary. That is to say, that we trust or believe without having any prior​ knowledge of it. The popular worldview is to belittle Christians. Make our belief in Christ small and seem trite compared to popular secular thinking. Convicted Faith pushes us to the point of wanting to shout from the rooftops what we know to be true.

The reality is Christianity does not need the extended warranty it comes with a lifetime guarantee. We can just read the fine print in all that God has given us to explore know that to be true.

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