Devotionals

Assuring Confidence

by Anne Adams
05/25/26
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I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. I John 5:13 (NIV)

Recently I’ve become intrigued with watching a series of short YouTube AI-created videos that tell fictitious stories with similar plots, depicting how someone with a calm confidence meets someone with haughty arrogance. In one example, a plainly dressed older man enters an elegant hotel to register but since the desk clerk condescendingly assumes he’s a nobody he tells him they have no rooms. The clerk even suggests that the man might be more comfortable at the low priced chain motel down the road. However, the old man remains calm and after he gently challenges the clerk about the availability of rooms the clerk doubles down. He demands the man leave immediately or he’ll call security. The old man silently leaves, still with his calm confidence.

However, later that day the desk clerk is called into the hotel manager’s office where the older man – now well dressed – is also present. Then, to the clerk’s surprise, the manager introduces the old man as the owner of the hotel and because the conceited clerk did not treat the old man with respect he is to be terminated.  

Most of these stories have a similar plot where someone with calm assurance confronts someone with smug arrogance and the latter seems to always receive what they deserve.  In all of them the issue is the confidence of one of the characters – as they exemplify conduct based on a silent assurance of reality.

The word confidence is from the Latin word that means “to have full trust or reliance” and that’s completely the idea behind John’s reassuring words to his readers in our passage. Yet what’s important to remember is that our confidence is based entirely on who God is and what he’s done – not on who we are or what we’ve done.

And knowing that we can say with the Psalmist: “I remain confident of this:    I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13 (NIV)