INSECURE OR SECURE IN?
I’ve heard it said that the Bible is God’s love letter to us, but when I first started reading the Bible as a little girl, it certainly didn’t sound that way to me! I felt like I was a bad little girl and God was really mad at me because I just couldn’t be good and do all the things I was reading in His book.
And, besides, I wasn’t Jewish.
I SOOOOO wanted to be Jewish.
I wanted to be one of His “chosen” people!!!
But I wasn’t.
So, I just continued on, diligently trying to be the best little girl I could, hoping that when I died He would let me into heaven… even if begrudgingly.
When I finally got to the New Testament I felt a *little* bit better, because I loved baby Jesus in the manger and later had the image in my head of sweet and gentle Jesus with the baby lambs and the little children all around him and on His lap.
But, I still never felt like I was one of those little children. Nor ever could be.
I always felt like I was somehow locked inside the house looking out the window at Jesus with all those blessed, happy children and baby sheep.
This feeling stayed with me through most of my adult life. Going to church didn’t seem to help… in fact, oftentimes I ended up feeling MORE condemned and judged and further from God after hearing a scathing sermon or being shunned by the “holier than thou’s” and even not being allowed to work in the nursery because I was a single mother who’d been divorced. I ended up feeling further away from God and more insecure than ever! I felt I would NEVER be good enough - for Him, or for anyone else.
It wasn’t until I actually started reading the Bible as an adult that I began to get a different picture. I mean, really READING it. Different versions of it. Different commentaries on it.
Then, not just reading it, but actually STUDYING it.
Meditating on it.
Chewing on it.
Wrestling with it.
Obeying it.
Slowly… patiently… tenderly… over time… God started revealing His heart to me through it.
And, when I was confused by something, I would pray to Him about it and ask Him for clarification. He would almost always lead me to another confirming scripture… either in something I would hear or read later that day, or something suggested by another follower, or even a song lyric that I knew was scriptural and would look up.
What He revealed to me, slowly… patiently… tenderly… over time… astonished me.
It brought me to my knees.
God actually loves me.
He loves ME.
Not just the Israelites.
Not just the 12 disciples.
Not just the people Jesus knew while He was here.
Not just the good little girls who always do what’s right.
He loves me so much that He gave up everything for me.
I am the pearl of great value.
I am the one He chose to die for. Because I am the one who so desperately needed to be rescued.
I am His beloved child, and He will NEVER let me go.
He will never, EVER stop loving me. No matter what.
And, this is exactly how He feels about YOU as well, my friend! Read those last 7 lines above out loud, right now. Write them down and repeat them to yourself over and over and over and over and over again, several times a day.
Because, they’re absolutely true!
Once we truly realize how much God loves us, what HE thinks of us, what HIS plans are for us… then we can begin to stop caring, (or at least stop caring so much we’re debilitated!) about what others think about us. Slowly… patiently… tenderly… over time… in the warmth of His love, our insecurities will melt away.
We will no longer be insecure when we are truly secure in Him.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
SCRIPTURES
Romans 8:38 ~ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. (NLT)
Jeremiah 29:11 ~ For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. (NET)
John 3:16-17 ~ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV)
Matthew 13:45-46 ~ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (NIV)
John 15:16a ~ You did not choose me, but I chose you… (NIV)
1 Peter 2:9-10 ~ But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (MSG)
John 15:15 ~ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (NKJV)
1 John 3:1a ~ See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! (NLT)
John 6:37 ~ All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]. (AMPC)
John 15:13 ~ No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. (CSB)
John 15:12 ~ This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (NKJV)