The plague of insecurity is one that infects all women to some extent or another. None of us enjoys our insecurity, and many of us feel that if we could just “fix” our weaknesses, we would not have to deal with the feeling at all.
The problem is that none of us is ever going to be perfect in this lifetime.
“[God] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
The Bible is clear that true freedom from insecurity is found in the understanding that we are not enough, and we must rely on Jesus as the only One who is. This is the third and final post in a series discussing reasons why it is actually freeing to have that understanding.
Reason 1
We don’t have to make ourselves something that we are not in our own power. Remember how I have found that I can’t defeat my visceral feelings of impatience on my own? We have the freedom to rely on Christ.
Reason 2
We don’t have to pretend to be something that we are not. We aren’t living in a perpetual job interview. We have the ability to be vulnerable and open about our doubts, struggles, weaknesses, and sin – both with other people and with God.
Reason 3
When we understand that we are not enough, and we know that no one else is either, we do not live constantly comparing ourselves to others.
Income, looks, skills and abilities, food and diet choices, endless subjects pertaining to our parenting and children, medical choices, our house, our possessions, our husbands, the way we were raised, our life circumstances, our sin (or what we think is our lack of sin)…the list could go on and on with what we compare in our minds.
Whether we find ourselves to be superior or inferior, comparisons can be destructive. Either we expect ourselves to have it all together, and feel guilty and dejected when we don’t, or we expect others to have it all together and look down on them when they don’t.
If you are anything like me, perhaps you have seen both sides of this coin within just moments. The ability to see snippets into the lives of 25 people on social media within mere seconds has shown me the state of my heart. I can see one photo that portrays an attractive, adventurous life filled with ease and I feel that my life is somehow not as good. The next post may be about some medical choice that I don’t ascribe to and I can instantly feel a little better, knowing that I am more informed than some.
There is no good outcome, and the more we allow our minds to run free with these comparisons, the more we are enslaved to this way of thinking.
The root of the problem isn’t social media – it is my heart. Instead of holding ourselves up or other women up as the standard, we must hold Christ up. He is the only one who is faultless.
The only way to be free from insecurity is to acknowledge Jesus as the only One who is enough by our thoughts, words and actions — depending on His strength for all that we do. But to do this we must actually know Him.
Are you seeking to grow in your knowledge and love for Christ?
We will never be perfect, but as we abide in Jesus, He shares His strength, and we begin to prioritize what He prioritizes.
The freedom to be humble and yet confident, inadequate and yet completely enough, weak and yet strong is only found in Christ.
