Religion - Roots in yourself

Last night we began going through some of the parables told by Jesus in Matthew Chapter 13. The main discussion occurred when reading the parable of the sower and the seeds. Jesus said that the seeds that were thrown in the rocky places were scorched by the sun and withered away because they had no root. Jesus later explained that this person is excited about the gospel message when he first hears it, but he falls away from God when troubles or difficult circumstances arise because he has no root in himself. Christianity in most groups is not the fun topic and the positions of a Christian may not be too welcomed in mixed company. At times, Christians will be called to stand for their faith. Modern day Americans have it relatively easy, we must only endure odd stares and perhaps being excluded from certain groups and given stereotypes that are not meant to be pleasant. Generally, we do not have to make a stand in the face of physical pain or abuse. Still, we often fail to make stands for what we believe in and what we say we value. Why? Because we have shallow roots in ourselves. It's a confidence issue. If a person is confident in himself and in his values and priorities, the biggest weapon of the world is rendered useless, the opinions of others. If our confidence is small and we need reassurance and acceptance from others, we have said that we value the opinion of others above that thing that we have not stood for, in this case God. Which do you value more, the opinion of God who will determine your eternal fate, or the opinions of the popular and fun people in your circles? It seems like a ridiculous and very easy question. However, very often in our lives, and certainly in mine, we choose to value the opinion of the people whose favor we wish to win. For me it happens in situations where I lack confidence, where I don't believe the people around me will accept me for who I really am and I subconsciously choose to face God's judgment instead of the judgment of my friends and acquaintances. We should put God's judgment above anyone else's. That seems incredibly silly to even write because it seems so obvious. Still, it seems almost impossible to live out at times. It comes back to confidence. If you are sure about what you are doing and what you believe in, armor will be built up around you that makes criticisms of others unable to penetrate into your soul and cause you pain or concern. The question of the evening was: "How do you gain that confidence in yourself". Wow, that is the question. It seems that it is similar to our relationship with Jesus, it comes down to faith. In this case, it is a faith in yourself, not that you are all powerful or knowing, but that, in general terms, you are trying to do right and you believe in the right things. I define right by however Jesus would define right. There are of course people who are supremely confident in themselves who are not Christians. They have set their own values of right and wrong and are living by those principles and have faith in them. Eternal salvation requires faith in Jesus, but self confidence only requires faith in you. In both cases the key element is faith. How can you acquire faith? I'm not sure. Devoting time, thought, and effort to the principles of your life by which you live and which will define you as an individual is the only recommendation I can give. Acknowledge where your priorities currently rank and decide if that is acceptable to you. If not, you are the only person that can rearrange the order of those priorities.