So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
Hebrews 10:35
When we throw away something, we don’t care what happens to it anymore. Sometimes it’s just a piece of trash that we drop in the garbage. Sometimes it’s that piece of paper that we made a mistake on. Crumpling it up into a ball, we toss it across the room towards the trashcan. Sometimes in. Sometimes not.
On our street, garbage is collected once a week on Thursdays. Even though we’ve been living in the same house for over 20 years, there’s still a reminder on my electronic calendar about rolling the trash and recycle cans to the curb. Sometimes I do it on Wednesdays at night and other days I do it early Thursday mornings.
There was lots and lots of throwing away after my mom died and dad chose to move into assisted living. They had been living in the same house for more than 60 years. As you can imagine, they had all sorts of “treasures” that needed to be taken care of. For example, they had bank statements laying around that were so old that they not only had yellowed, but still used their Social Security Numbers as account numbers.
During my mom’s later years, she became a hoarder. There was only a very narrow walkway from the door to her bed and over to her closet. Every other inch of the room was covered with at least three feet of “stuff.” Her storage room was worse. There was no walkway into the room. Period.
I’m one of the people who find it easy to throw things away. Not everyone’s like me. While some people slowly and carefully go through every little thing before throwing it away, I’m not. I throw away just about anything at the first sign of a question or problem. And once it’s thrown away, I never, never, ever go through the trash to get something back.
The writer of this letter to the Hebrews is asking a very important question. He wants to know what they think of their faith in Jesus. Is it something that they’re ready to hold onto with all their might? Or is it just something that they can take it or leave it?
He’s telling them, and us, that confidence is not only something really important, but that confidence is never alone. Confidence always, always, always leads to words Period. When you’re confident in someone, you have all sorts of courage to talk about them. To share your experiences, thoughts, and feelings about them.
But it doesn’t stop there. Confidence always leads to actions. We’re bold with what we do when we’re confident. We won’t let anyone or anything scare us. Stop us from showing our confidence through our actions. And when we act, things always change. We can’t act without changing something.
When you throw away confidence, it’s the opposite of holding onto it. You either grab boldness with both hands and all your might, or you just drop it. There’s no in-between. You’re either done with confidence, throwing it overboard, or you keep holding on. And on. And or.
The Hebrews are promised that there’s a reward for staying confident. Being confident. Speaking with confidence. Acting with confidence. Living each and every day while being confident.
So, what is that reward? What’s the paycheck, benefits, and bonus that confidence pays? What’s the endgame that confidence takes us to? Where will confidence lead us today? Tomorrow? And for years to come? It’s got to be worth something to stay confident. Doesn’t it? It certainly does! There are three parts that we can be totally assured of.
Be. It’s not somewhere over the rainbow. Or around the bend. Or just over the horizon. It’s not out there somewhere. It starts right here and now. It’s actively going on even as you read these words. It changes the way we think about everything. The way we measure if something’s good or not. It all changes now.
Richly. We have to stop thinking about it in terms of numbers or things. It’s not measured by some amount of money. How many cars or phones we have. Or where we sit at the ballgame or theater. It’s so large and great that we have to come up with a new way of thinking. It’s overwhelming in the widest sense possible.
Rewarded. For some reason, we only think about our pain and suffering in negative terms. How much it hurt. How lonely life is. How we were betrayed. But there’s a great big positive side to all that. God’s promise is that he will never let suffering go unused or unrewarded[1]. In light of all eternity, the afflictions of this world are light and we’re going to be rewarded by the gracious God of heaven[2].
Remember that Jesus let the enemy take him. He didn’t ask the insults, beatings, torture, and crucifixion to stop. He didn’t come down from the cross[3]. Now that he died for all our sins, his reward is to have the highest and most powerful name in the universe[4]. God threw nothing away but used it all to save you and me.
Noodling Questions.
How do you figure out what to throw away? What’s your criteria?
Explain how we can throw confidence away. What does it look like?
If Jesus took everything, why do we run away from hurts and persecutions?
[1] Romans 5:3-5
[2] 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
[3] Mark 15:29-32
[4] Philippians 2:9-11
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