Balancing humility & self-confidence

For many, humility is often associated with weakness and incompetence. To this many, humility is pathetic because it will only make one look feeble & frail. Nonetheless, for some, humility is a forte. To this few, much importance is attached to the quality of humility. For they know that it is he, who humbles himself, stripped of pride; and becomes like a little child, simply trusting and dependent on the One, that is considered the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ~Matt 18:4.

But then again, amongst this few, some fail to see the presence of self-confidence in humility. As a result, feelings of inadequacy overwhelm them as soon as the going gets rough. Yes, confidence can lead to arrogance. However, without self-confidence, one can get trapped in Satan's deceptions; when he reminds us of our past failures and limitations, telling us we aren’t good enough or talented enough to do God’s work.

Perhaps true humility can only be generated when one holds a certain honest and realistic amount of self-respect about himself/herself. This means having a true knowledge of our identity according to the One who created us. It means truly believing that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). It also means believing that He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (Eph 1:4). Without a sensible and practical view of oneself, one will by no means be able to distinguish and accept their faults as opportunities for improvements in a positive manner.

There is that act of balancing between humility and self-confidence that we are constantly engaged with in our lives. And because it is such a delicate balance, there is no way we can do it on our own. Thus, this act of balancing is also a choice which we have to decide on daily- a choice of making Jesus our source of strength and motivation- that can only be done as we consistently stay in communion with God through our prayer life and His word.