4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 It is not that we are competent in[a] ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. (2 Corinthians 3:4-5 CSB)

We gain confidence in ourselves when we feel compentent in what we are doing. This confidence comes from knowledge and wisdom gained by study, practice and application.

We cannot hope to gain a confidence if we are not active in application.

Of course none of this comes in our spiritual lives apart from God.

So through application and through God’s grace we are made competent to fulfill our spiritual role.

Why do I belabor these points a bit today? Mainly because, as humans, we think of ourselves very highly and any byproduct of our hands is solely of our doing. We need to realize we are not competent in our spiritual role with out God. And, truly, nothing happens apart from Him.

Thus, “Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God”. Through Christ and before God. Not, “in and of ourselves.”

Once we understand this and live our lives accordingly, our confidence grows because we can rely upon God in every instance. Our competence grows because we are built up with the Spirit and we understand where we place our confidence.