With Thursday night’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the New York Rangers are the first NHL team in 16 years to begin a postseason with seven consecutive wins. Though all three of the Rangers’ contests against the Hurricanes have been very competitive, New York has found a way to make plays down the stretch to come away with pivotal victories. In Thursday night’s contest, it was winger, Artemi Panarin who played the hero role for the Rangers, slotting home the overtime winner on a beautiful between-the-legs deflection less than two minutes into the extra period. Amazingly, it’s already Panarin’s fourth game-winning goal of the 2024 postseason. There is no question New York is a team playing with great confidence right now. The Rangers were the best team in the league during the regular season, and it seems they’ve taken their game to even greater heights in the postseason. Because of the success they’ve experienced in close contests, the Rangers are tremendously confident they’ll be able to make enough plays to move past their opponents. Confidence is a great thing to have in sports, but how does the Bible tell us to think about having confidence? To have a biblical view of confidence, we start by recognizing our confidence cannot be in ourselves. In Philippians 3:3b (NLT), when speaking about salvation being through grace alone and not through human merit, the Apostle Paul says, “We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort.” Our salvation is all grace, which means there’s no room for us to place confidence in our ability to save ourselves. Rather than being haughty or proud about our perceived “goodness,” we must humbly acknowledge that we are sinners incapable of saving ourselves. Only then, can we turn and look to Christ as our sole hope of salvation. Throughout scripture, the consistent message is that any confidence we have should always be directed towards the Lord, instead of it being a man-centered confidence. Psalm 118:8 (NKJV) says, “It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man.” We can be confident in the Lord and His character because He’s faithful and He never changes (Malachi 3:6). As we know from experience, that certainly isn’t the case with any human being. Even our confidence in drawing near to the Lord shouldn’t be rooted in self but in the character and nature of God Himself. Hebrews 4:15-16 (ESV) states, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Being confident as a follower of Jesus is definitely a good thing, as long as that confidence is rooted in God and not in self. Today, let’s rid ourselves of any self-centered confidence that we may be clinging to. Instead, let’s walk in a God-focused confidence that gives Him all of the glory for any “victory” we achieve in this life. I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times I’ve been proud and arrogant with my attitude. Please help me to place my confidence in You alone. Thank you that when I do so, I can walk with a healthy confidence that brings glory to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
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