I read a really interesting article the other day by Chris Hardwick, a writer and comedian I’m a huge fan of. The piece is called "Confidence Theory," and talks all about how confidence is simple – it’s having options. It’s knowing that if this (whatever this is) doesn’t work out, I’ve got a fallback. The world won’t end, I’ll be okay, and I’ve got something that’s a rock, that’s always there. Read the article – it’s interesting stuff.

It also got me thinking. Chris’ article is primarily about professional confidence. Do something audacious, he’s saying, and the confidence to do that comes from the ability to have a fallback if all else fails. But confidence, I think, is much bigger than just our work. So where does real confidence come from?

I know where it should come from, though: God. The way I see it, God’s way cooler than anyone else. If I go out on a limb, do something crazy, and fail horribly, what’s going to happen? Worst-case scenario, my friends laugh at me and stop talking to me. That’s not going to happen, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it’s true.

If I know, and fully understand, that the all-powerful God of the Universe is still behind me and still loves me, how can I be afraid of anything else? The confidence that comes from having options, having other things there to catch you when you fall, should come so much more easily when it’s God who’s there to catch us.

Chris at one point says this:

Whenever you have at least one other option in life, you feel relaxed, safe and cool because if the one thing doesn’t work out, you’re not going to die.

When that option is God, and we understand that He’s not going anywhere – the one relationship that ultimately matters isn’t even remotely in jeopardy – there’s huge confidence and freedom in that. We can go, make spectacular mistakes, do things 100% wrong, and be confident in the fact that the God and Creator of everything is there exactly as much as before.

So why, for me and for everyone else, is that so hard to put in practice? I think the answer is this: God isn’t tangible. We have security blankets and Emergency Funds because when the roof caves in, we have something to touch, to hold, to look at that somehow makes us feel safe and secure again. In our professional lives, we have that one thing we know we’re great at that we can point to and know that somehow, we’re going to be okay.

But God doesn’t work that way. I can’t look at God and know He’s my friend. So I worry about making friends, and making sure I’m somehow cool enough among the people I can see and surround myself with to rejuvenate my confidence. God, in whom I should find the most confidence, is the hardest source of it in my life.

So what do we do? How does life change if we don’t fear screwing up the only thing that ultimately matters? What does it mean that no matter how bad I am, or how awesomely I fail, I’m still okay, because God says so?

Photo: truello