Three problems with insecurity

Insecurity: a nasty little habit that seems to follow you at work, at home, and when you’re with friends. It comes in the form of negative thoughts that creep up in your heart and capture your courage. It looks like a pattern of disbelief that cripples you from making any major moves. Insecurity is a problem; however, it is a problem you don’t have to deal with. 

1. It is idolatry

At the root of insecurity, is a lack of belief in you. Since when were you supposed to believe in yourself? Check out Psalm 25. God is the center of our faith and the rock on which we can set our hope. To place our faith or belief, though it may be faulty, in anything else, is idolatry. Our faith is only as good as the object it beholds. The reason we so often are knocked out by feelings of insecurity is because our faith is in placed on who we see in the mirror. It’s not meant to be that way. Here is the good news: Jesus is secure even though we are not. Our security is in Jesus and His work on the cross. Jesus is worth putting your faith in, so take your eyes off yourself and set your eyes and your hope upon Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). There is nothing and no one more secure.

2. Some people will never be pleased with you. That is OK.

Most of us have the desire to be liked by everyone. The problem is that desire can never be filled. Even Jesus, the only perfect person to ever live, was not liked by everyone. Actually, He was hated and killed by a mob of people. If people hated Jesus, you can rest assured that from time to time someone may not like you. That is okay. Really! Come to grips with that—it is okay if other people don’t always like you. This is often the hardest thing to grasp because we place too much value on the opinion of other people.

The same problem arose in the church in Galatia. The apostle Paul addressed this issue because not everyone in that city or even in the church had a favorable opinion of him. Can you believe that!? Other Christians did not always like Paul, the author of most of the New Testament. That is so freeing to me. Look at what Paul writes in Galatians 1: 10, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Apply that verse to your own life; your value is found in Christ, not the wavering opinion of others.

3. Your value has never been in question.

1 John 3:1 says you are a child of God, and the father pours His love on you.  Earlier in the New Testament, Paul writes that we were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 7:23). Your value has never been in question. Your value was set by your creator when He gave the life of His son Jesus. Jesus paid for you on the cross. You are a child of the king. 

Insecurity grows up in your heart when you stop believing what God says your value is, and you believe what others, or even your own mind, says your value is. The problem with that: Anything that does not come from God is a lie. The truth is that you are a child of God; you are valuable, and God wants to pour His love out on you. You have to believe what God says about you even more than you believe what you think about yourself.