Today’s program was written by Jerry Price.

If there’s anything that sets up twisted games, it’s the Overconfident game. i find it interesting that confidence and arrogance often look very similar, except overconfidence is quite glaring and tells another story … now there’s a problem.

There was a young man who had bragged to his companions how he could jump onto a moving train, make the grab and find his footing, just like in the movies. One day his friends bet him he couldn’t do it as he’d told them. As they watched, with all overconfidence and bragging, he jumped on the ladder of the moving train up between two train cars, just as he said he could … but this time, as he swung onto the frame between the two cars, his foot slipped down between the coupling, right, exactly as one car pushed forward, closing the gap. He lost half of his foot that day, all due to his overconfidence and bragging.

As a kid, I remember standing in an open lot and taking a baseball bat to hit stones. I would imagine myself being some well known ball player on the 1960 Detroit Tigers team. In my imagination i was always a home run hitter. Don’t you know, every boy dreams of being a hero on some level. i mean, i don’t think any little boy hits rocks with a bat and imagines himself only hitting pop fly’s to be caught by some agile outfielder, or always striking out. No, i’d bet every little boy always dreams of being that home run hitter.

There’s nothing wrong with imagining who you can be like. All of us operate with images in our minds, they provide powerful energy to accomplish what we want to do or be. The problem comes when we distort who we think we are, using images to reflect something which confidence was never intended to be, and that is – Overconfident.

It’s amazing what a person will do to protect their overconfident images. The overconfident person quits on anything that threatens their mental self-portrait. In truth, the overconfidence hides their fear of failure not because of failure per se, but because the failure exposes them as being no different than anyone else! For others, among many other reasons, the same fear of failure and exposure appears as additional negative confirmation of who they believe they are, or were told they were by someone in their lives. In an effort to offset their negative self-image, they overcorrect, becoming overconfident.

Our faith in the Lord must be strong enough that we can stand alone when we need to, without being hyper-spiritual or overconfident. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s great to have fellow Christians who can pray with you and support you. But there are many times when fellow Christians and maybe even your family will not stand with you. They may distance themselves from you because of your convictions. They may criticize you for being too gung ho about your faith. But, there truly does need to be a necessary balance to be struck between being confident vs being cocky.

Before my father came to know Jesus Christ, his heroes he admired were Baby Face Nelson, Al Capone, and Pretty Boy Floyd – criminals – and look out if anyone challenged him.

Here’s a sticky statement: Overconfidence is the poster child for entitlement issues. All twisted games rest on this cornerstone image of being different and better than anyone else. Now how dangerous and arrogant do you think that is?

A commercial from Canon featuring Andre Agassi used to say Image Is Everything, meaning how you look is more important than anything else. Is it possible to pursue excellence to our last breath and still not live off of some distorted image which really expects more out of others than we’re committed to deliver to ourselves? Yes! Did you get that? … expects more out of others than we’re committed to allow of ourselves.

i was an observer in a conversation between two men where one fellow challenged a long standing believer concerning his behavior, which honestly, had recently been quite on the edge of right and wrong. Upon being challenged the second fellow replied, “Look, i’m saved, i’m baptized, i’m instructed, i’m mature, and i come behind in no gifts. I’ve seen many things in my spiritual life. i am free and i’m fully sure i can go and do all these things you’ve mentioned, and they’re not going to have any effect on me, i’m too far along to get trapped. i’m not concerned.” i was astounded at the overconfidence and was glad i was only an observer. i smiled, and left him where he was. Interestingly, the Lord used his words to confront my own similar attitudes. Let’s be clear, He spoke to me about me, not about him.

Jesus taught us about commonality and living a relational life. He left the glory of heaven and became flesh, just like us. He made himself a servant and didn’t quit on us when things got tough – like at the cross.

Let us take care to not step off into a ditch here, we can pursue excellence, of course, afterall we’re all made of the same stuff. We can ask for help when we need it and stay out of any self-imposed isolation or fantasy world which has no accountability for the images of who we think we are. And like Jesus, we can choose to serve others out of love. i’ve pondered how can anyone live overconfident when we know Jesus? That’s like rubbing shoulders with God and walking away with no wisdom or understanding, i just don’t see how it can be done.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.