Insecurity

I was just listening to an online podcast on insecurity. The gist of the idea is that more than often or not, the people around have given some negative comments about us which we had taken in and inbuilt into our lives for many years, to the point that they became the root of our insecurity in our lives. Secular marketing often sought to address this issue through marketing of products as the solutions to our insecurity, claiming that these products can help with our self esteem.

Perhaps no further than the truth, we are poised to look for something that will give us security. When I look into my own life, I do not think that I am exempted from this. In fact, people can look at what I am doing now in my own life and comment accurately that there are roots of insecurity and need to boost self esteem in these actions. Yet, where do we really look for security? The Teacher in the book Eccelsiastes already said that everything going on under the sun is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

How about above the sun then?

Listening to the podcast, my eyes were once again led back to the grace of God in my own life. Perhaps one verse which I discussed with my LG and struck a chord within me even till this day is this:

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves...Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 1:4-6, 2:19-22 NIV)

If one reads further in the book of Ephesians, one would realise the beautiful theme of God adopting us into His family, that no matter whether Jews or Gentiles, we are all citizens of God's kingdom. The notion of adoption in the context is very significant, because people of that time knew that adoption generally mean that the adopted got to inherit the wealth of the foster family and would get treated the same as biological children. Citizenship in the Roman context was a big deal and a much coveted status in the ancient Roman world.

The question for us, as Christ believers, is this: do we see ourselves as God's children? In view of His mercy and grace, are we willing to accept who we are and be willing to embrace ourselves as God's unique and finest creation?

Maybe one question we can ask God is this: what does He think and feel about us? What kind of answer would we expect Him to reply?

In my own ministry, I have seen my own share of insecurity at work. Not only my own, but my flock's as well. I have seen how insecurity manifested itself in the lives of different people in different circumstances. Some more serious than the other. It affects relationships. But the beautiful thing is this, I have never seen people not finding themselves being relieved from the insecurities in their lives after being marvelled by the truth that God loves us and we are His finest creations, that He cares for us enough to die for us. In some sense, the realisation and the revelation of God's grace have seen testimonies after testimonies on how people are willing to overcome their own weaknesses and insecurities to go all the way for God.

And the bible has good final word on this, unless we build our lives on the truth of God, which is the rock, the house we build will collapse when the wind blows and the rain comes.