Imagine a scene where someone wants to join the army because they themselves are insecure. They want to get tough so they can fight their own personal enemies.
One of the first things the training needs to do is to instil discipline, professionalism and security into the recruits. What good would it be for the soldiers to run into battle half-trained? They need to fight as one - no longer worried about who is better or who gets the credit. Everybody's lives rely on everyone doing what they are trained to do.
I have heard security used in psychology to refer to infants who are securely bonded to their primary carer. So, for example, if mum leaves the room the infant is secure that she will come back.
A definition of being insecure that I find helpful is "defending when no one is attacking." We see this in all levels of life. We even see it in world leaders. We see world leaders who do not trust the people around them.
This is not to bash anyone or make them feel bad. It is to make sure that we understand the difference between being secure and insecure. Then we need to know what we are to be secure in. Some things that people place their security in might be science, money, political systems, themselves or security systems (eg. gates, walls, alarms, bodyguards, guns etc.)
For us, it is important that we place our security in Christ. When we think about living the Christian life, for example, whether in prayer, bible study, worship, getting involved in church duties, giving, witnessing and so on, if we are not secure, we will be like the insecure soldier going into battle only thinking of himself.
I love the image of, 'love your neighbour as yourself.' When we see how someone looks after themselves it gives us a good indication of what we can expect! We could look at someone and think, no, you keep it, I'm fine thanks!
Just like the good soldier, we need to spend time in basic training before we are let loose with the big guns! Jesus said, 'From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent plunder it.' Mat 11:12. There are a lot of people who have been and are forceful and even violent in trying to take the kingdom forward. This is clearly not how we are meant to be.
It has taken me over thirty years as a Christian to realise the first and most important thing we need to do is to learn to be loved by God. It is so easy to join a church, get involved and have no clue how much God loves us. Some run on their own ego and some just run aground.
When we are born we are not simply told our parents love us and then thrown into the world. In an ideal world, we spend most of our lives learning how much our parents love us. That said, in an ideal world an infant can become secure in their parent's love from a very young age.
Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. But God does love us and it will take more than a lifetime to fully know how much he loves us. But, we can become secure in that love. Even this is not a one-and-done deal. We become secure in His love for us and then we need to keep on becoming more secure in his love for us. We need to continually remind ourselves.
'For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Rom 8:38-39
'For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.' Eph 2:10
'This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil.' Hebrews 6:19
Knowing our security
Just to be clear for those who are wondering, we are secure in Christ. This is not about becoming more secure, it is about knowing the security we have.
No matter how secure we are in ourselves naturally, we all need to learn to be secure in God's love, and that can mean stripping away our natural securities.
Whether we are coming from a place of already feeling secure or needing reassurance, it is OK to take the time needed to learn to be loved by God. It is still a good thing to take the time to learn God's love and not just run off half-baked.
For a few years, there was a popular saying doing the rounds.
A ship is safest in the harbour, but ships are not built for the harbour.This has the ring of, 'Just get out there and get on with it.' But take a moment to notice, that building takes time, and ships are built in a dry dock! I have a saying of my own:
A tent takes less time to put up than a castle, but which is more secure?
Each of us has a unique personality. However, people tend to group similar traits together and call them personality types. If we look at Peter in the Gospels we see someone who is keen and jumps in with both feet. Jesus has to continually pull him back. In contrast, Thomas wants proof before he will commit and Jesus shows him the proof he needs. Both are fully accepted by Jesus. Jesus doesn't reject the foolhardy or the cautious.
Some will race ahead and kind of have to learn on the job, while others want to learn before they start. I spent years trying to race ahead but now have come to realise, like Peter, that if you jump ahead under your own idea of what to do, God will still have to show you and you will have to do it again. As well as that you are left with cringing memories!
For Peter, whether it was having Jesus say to him, 'Get behind me satan.' sinking into the water, chopping off someone's ear or swearing he would never deny Jesus then immediately denying Him. Some people will only learn the hard way - but that is still infinitely better than not learning at all.
When we look at scripture things seem to happen immediately. For example, when Paul became a believer - it would be easy to think he immediately raced off into ministry. in Galatians 1:11-24, Paul tells us that he went into Arabia, and then went to Damascus for a further three years before making himself known to the apostles. We do not know exactly how long Paul took. From what I can find there are at least 10 to 14 years between Paul's conversion and his ministry journeys. Historians seem to place Paul's conversion around AD 33-36 and his first missionary journey around AD 47-48.
We have an enemy
Just like a soldier we have an enemy. It doesn't matter what you want to call that enemy, but there is resistance to us being able to be Christ in the world. That enemy is only too happy if we are not secure - if we are being defensive when no one is attacking, lashing out at our fellows, and/or feeling like it is me against everyone else.
The Bible tells us that faith is the assurance of things unseen (Heb 11:1). The person who wants to see it to believe it wants to see unity and fellowship. However, the Bible tells us we have unity and fellowship, whether we see it or not. I have found that when I trust what the Bible says I see it. For example, I used to see the church as a whole as very disjointed, but when I allow myself to accept that we have unity, I see the unity we have. We are united in Christ and it is called grace.
Grace covers the person who insists we have to live up to all kinds of rules as well as the person who feels lost and doesn't know what they are supposed to do. Grace is us-proof because it isn't based on our works, it is based on the finished work of Jesus.
As much as our enemy wants us to feel insecure, we are secure. It is up to us to learn, grow and trust in that security even if we don't see it.
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