It would be good to consider where our confidence is. Is our confidence in ourselves, our abilities, and status, or is it in God and his promises? What will life look like if I am confident in myself as opposed to being confident in God?

I think the answer we receive from Amos is that the root of our confidence is expressed in our attitude and actions. If our confidence is in ourselves, then that will show in pride and selfishness. We will sing songs of praise only to carry on living as we please. We will be unconcerned about the needs of fellow church members or our neighbours back home. The good news of Jesus will fall on deaf ears and there will be no changes in our life.

But if our confidence is truly in God and we have been united to Christ through faith, then that will be seen in the fruits of the Spirit becoming more and more evident in our lives. We will stop worrying so much about our future because we know that all creatures are completely in God’s hands; without his will they cannot so much as move. The joy of salvation and peace that we have with God will be seen in our growing patience, generosity, honesty, and kindness. More and more we will seek to be servants of others with an increasing desire for justice and righteousness, as the Holy Spirit changes us and helps us to fight against sin.

These changes do not happen overnight, and they do not occur where there is no reflection on the truths of God’s Word. So if we want to help each other, as a church, to grow in our love for God and our confidence in him, if we want our children to have their confidence in God rather than themselves, then we must focus our attention on God’s Word. What has God said? What has God done? What is God like? What does God want from me? The more we focus on who God is, the greater our confidence in him will be.