If you have ever showed up at a business dinner or community event either over or under dressed you know how awkward that can be. Even if your fashion fax pau was unintentional, you understand full well the awkward feeling that all eyes are on you and that every whispered conversation must be cast in your direction. Even those of us with that extra sense of confidence may find it difficult to relax and enjoy the evening at such a time.

Harley Davidson here has probably never had such an experience. He is always on top of his fashion game and never fails to make a tasteful entrance. As the popular saying goes, “He owns his look.”

As followers of Jesus we must do the same!

Oh, not in a clothes fashion sense, but in a “Jesus Christ lives in us” sense. If we are clothed in His righteousness…and we are. If we are royal daughters and sons…and we are. If we are a new creation…and we are. Shouldn’t we “own His look.”? Shouldn’t we in all humility and grace enter every situation with confidence of Whose We Are?!

The absolute confident and biblical answer is a resounding, YES!

In Christ we can be dressed in His armor and confidently yet humbly enter any and every situation that comes along our way.

It may seem like an oxymoron to connect confidence with humility. But I submit that only when I am truly confident can I be truly humble.

And moreover, I submit it is only because my confidence is in Christ and therefore I can truly experience the humility of heart because I know that I know that I know that

Jesus paid it all for me

and

He is the One who clothes me!

We can learn so much from little Cordelle and don’t let his cuteness fool you. This is one tenacious and determined puppy. What other pups see as a giant sized task, Cordelle has literally sunk his teeth into and seeing it accomplished. Are there giants in this puppy’s world? Oh yeah! But he is proactive and courageous in facing those giants.

And we sure know that our world is also full of giants! Often we feel smaller than Cordelle when facing our personal giants. Whether it is the giant of disease or the giant of dysfunction or the giant of lost trust we just don’t feel up to facing our giants let alone conquering them.

And why is it that our giants appear one right after another?! It would be nice if they had the decency to give us some space in-between attacks! We could at least catch our breath and gather our wits before having to face another onslaught.

But, No!

Giants have no compassion, no scruples and no mercy! So what do we do? Should we cower in fear like Saul and his Israelite army? Shall we, like Saul, be content to hold the little bit of ground that we have for fear we will lose it all?

Not on your God-given LIFE!

We must be like the shepherd boy David who faced every giant God brought his way with confidence, courage and tenacity. He did this not in his own abilities, though he had many, but in service to Jehovah God who already had the victory and conquered David’s foes for him.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25

This lesson is one I need to work on. I am prone to learn by reading and more reading. Because I love to read sometimes I miss out on the doing. Reading is good, but so is doing. But reading is safe and doing isn’t always safe.

In fact, doing very often involves some risk

which may be the reason I read rather than do.

Reading is fun, but so is doing. I shouldn’t just ‘hear’ lessons, I should do them.