Stephen
J. Nichols’ book, A Time for Confidence: Trusting God in a Post-Christian
Society, was written in 2018, but it is a great book to read during Covid
and a wild presidential election (in the States).
Nichols
argues that at this time in history what we especially need is a vision (2) –
we live in a time when we need to know where we are putting our confidence and if
our confidence is in the right place – that is – in God (15).
We
are first to be confident in God. We
need to understand that it is when we fully acknowledge our weakness that we
yield ourselves to the power of God (38).
Second,
we have confidence in the Bible. The
authority of the Bible is established by the words, ‘thus says the Lord” (53).
To believe this – that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God is
to have confidence in it.
Third,
we have confidence in Christ. Here we build
on our confidence in the Bible, seeing Who we are told Jesus is and what He had
done, and we recognize that our hope is found in Him, not in ourselves or
others.
Fourth,
we have confidence in the Gospel. The
Gospel tells us that God is God, and we are not – God is righteous, and we are
not. Do we believe that the Gospel has
the power to save as the Bible tells us?
If so, we can be confident that God will use it to accomplish His plan.
Fifth,
we have confidence in hope. Because of
what Christ has done through the Gospel, we can have hope – an assurance in the
promised future (134). We can endure
suffering now knowing that we will surely receive His promises.
This
is an encouraging and very readable book.
Pick it up to remind yourselves of the hope we have in Christ – the
confidence we have in Christ. There is
no need to abandon hope. Hope is our
sure path to the glorious future merited for us in Christ.
[This
review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
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