Do you ever feel insecure?
Insecurity can feel like a plague. That annoying sick feeling that you can’t escape. I’m not enough. I struggle with insecurity, probably way more than I would care to admit. Am I really sure of who I am? Am I really A-OK with whatever others happen to think of me? Those doubts can plague me often. Am I lovable? Do I even matter? What if I’m a horrible failure and don’t even know it?
I recently ran across this article by Jon Bloom on DesiringGod about insecurity that resonated with me and reminded me of what I needed to hear. That insecurity is not a plague- but it’s actually a warning sign. I love how Jon Bloom called it a mercy:
God designed insecurity to be examined in order that we might escape danger. That’s why it’s a mercy. This kind of insecurity is a God-gauge in our soul. It’s reporting to us that something is wrong with what we hear God or some other god telling us about who we are. Either a true belief is being challenged and perhaps refined, or a false belief is finally being exposed.
Jon shared how you find your identity in the god that you believe will save you. What is it you believe will save you? Whose approval do you need to feel secure? The good news is you already have a Savior and God has already put His approval on you through Jesus and His sacrifice for us. That’s real security right there!
If I’m feeling insecure and fearful, I don’t have to live there or believe the lies I may tell myself about who I am. That insecurity should point me every time to Jesus, and remind me that I need to believe what He says about who I am and where my identity lies.
Insecurity can damage my marriage as well.
If all of my identity is in my marriage, then I put too much pressure on my husband to give me those things. Make me feel loved. Make me feel secure. Make me feel significant. And although I can find some of those things in relationships, I can’t find all of it. My spouse will fail me. I love that my identity as Joe’s wife or any other roles I have can be in addition to my first identity as a redeemed child of God. If I get that reversed, my security and my marriage suffers.
Find your identity in what God says about you in His Word:
You are redeemed and forgiven:
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14
You are a part of God’s family:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19
You are chosen:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16
You are loved:
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, Psalm 103:17
Lay Aside the Weight
If you’re struggling with insecurity today, check out Jon’s article and be challenged. Your insecurity doesn’t have to be a weight that you carry. It can be the mercy from God to point you continually back to to Him and His love for you!
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