Insecurity is a big issue for women in Jesus’ Church and I suspect for men, too. We’ve heard so much teaching against being proud that we may have swung to what we feel is the opposite extreme. Humility is the opposite of pride, but we may well confuse insecurity with humility. Then there’s all the stuff we’ve done to know that we really aren’t worthy to be very important in The Church. We know we’re saved by faith in Christ alone and we know He forgives our sins. We’re just not sure we can forgive ourselves. We may feel if others in the church really knew what we’re like or where we’ve been, they wouldn’t forgive us either.
Our inadequacies show up when we compare ourselves with someone else. This may have started in childhood when we felt pressure from our family to excel in grades or sports or music to win their approval. We may have felt we need to be beautiful by the world’s standards or cool in order to feel liked by others. Maybe it wasn’t just on a personal level that we didn’t feel we measured up. Our family may not have had the money or lived in the “right” neighborhood to compete with others. There may even have been a “family secret” that brought shame to the family and would have been devastating if it got out.
I think all this comparison is a lie of the enemy to keep God’s kids from believing they’re of value to each other. 1 Corinthians 12:24-27 says, “So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.” (NLT) We can’t try to be like someone else, or we will ruin the way the body is to function. The very things from my past that I feel insecure about have shaped me into who I am now.
I’m so grateful to God for telling us what we need to know in the Bible. He doesn’t just leave us a bunch of rules to follow. He shows us the heroes of our faith as they really are: imperfect, deeply flawed in some cases, and totally in the right place to be used by God for His purposes.
Moses was an old man, a murderer and not much of a speaker. He thought his brother would be a better choice for God’s purposes. Yet God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. He spoke for God, spoke with God as no one else had, and received the Ten Commandments.
David became a lazy soldier, an adulterer and a murderer. Surely God could have found someone better qualified to become the second king of Israel. Yet, God called David a “man after God’s heart.” He certainly had his troubles in life, yet his family line was the line through which God chose to bring His Son, Jesus, into the world. His heartfelt Psalms have brought comfort and encouragement to sinful, discouraged souls just like him for millennia.
Rahab was a woman of ill repute and a non-Jew. She made a deal to save some Israelites in exchange for the safety of her family because she feared the Hebrew God. She was counted worthy to be mentioned in the lineage of Jesus as well.
Peter was a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed fisherman who denied His Lord three times. Yet after he was reinstated and filled with the Holy Spirit, he preached and thousands of people came to the Lord. He is called the rock on which Christ’s church is built and he left us some important books of the Bible.
The list goes on and on. I doubt if you or I have done anything worse than many of the characters in the Bible. If God was in the business of comparing people and using only those who seemed to be most perfect, He surely wouldn’t have chosen any of those characters would He? Yet God has chosen to relate to humans in all of their imperfections. He forgives those who honestly turn from sin. He works through those who are willing to be used of Him—no excuses, no shame. I think this is because it is and always has been all about God and not about the human instrument He uses.
God often has to let a person come to the end of himself/herself and realize they are totally dependent on God for anything good in their life. Then God can enter into a personal relationship with that person, change their heart to love God back and allow them to cooperate with Him to take their part in the body of Christ. The willingness of a changed heart is what allows a person to leave the ugliness of the past behind, know they’re loved by God and become useful to Him.
We can look at the lost son in Luke 15:1-32 or at Peter or David. God welcomed them all back. No one has to “clean up their act” before the Loving Father runs to embrace His lost child. As with the lost son, we just need to come to our senses and tell God we’re tired of trying to make it on our own. We may even have done this before and then slipped back again. When we turn back to God, He’ll show us how much He has missed us and welcome us home again.
So, it is good to compare ourselves with others in some ways. Not to see where we fail to measure up. But look to see the faithfulness of God in other’s lives. Then, we can each take joy in our new creation in Christ. We can have confidence that He will use us in His body in the way He has planned. We don’t need to hide behind insecurities or a less than perfect past. I am good enough to take my part in God’s plans for me because I am His and His plans are always perfect.
