A GREAT CONFIDENCE

When someone comes to believe in God, to believe that He really is interested and active in human affairs, the issue of learned helplessness changes radically.

Martin Seligman describes the phenomenon this way: "Learned helplessness is the giving up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter." …

Alburt Bandura is a Stanford psychologist who has led research on what is commonly called "self-efficacy" -- the belief that I have mastery over events in my life and can handle whatever comes my way. People with a strong sense of self-efficacy are much more likely to be resilient in the face of failure, to cope instead of fear. Self-efficacy is strong confidence in one's abilities.

But for one who believes in God, the hinge point is not simply what I'm capable of. The real question is what might God want to do through me. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Now, this is not a blank check. In writing these words, the apostle Paul did not intend for us to understand that being a Christian means I can hit more home runs that Mark McGwire and hit higher notes than Pavarotti. It means I have great confidence that I can face whatever life throws at me, that I never need to give up, that my efforts have potency – because of the One at work within me.

-- John Ortberg in If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat


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