Dealing with Insecurity (1 Cor 3:17)
Insecurity is anxiety or fear. Insecurity comes across as negativity and feelings of insecurity rob us of our happiness. We may constantly feel threatened even if our external surroundings impose no real danger to our survival. Some say it’s the mind’s habitual tendency to focus on everything that can go wrong. Larry O’Hanlon says that a perfectly healthy human mind can trick itself into seeing things that are not there, and new research has exposed exactly the sort of conditions under which that happens. O’Hanlon reports on research that shows the less control a person feels, the more likely they are to see patterns or make connections that don't exist. O’Hanlon says people who feel in control are less likely to see things that aren't there and experience a wide variety of health and social benefits. When people feel in control they can also endure longer and more intense pain and recover from illness more quickly.[1] Having control is a big thing for most people but if achieved inappropriately it can create all sorts of relationship problems.
The Christian anchor is Christ Jesus yet the heart becomes troubled as if the anchor has slipped and the ship threatened with grounding. In times like this, individuals have a yearning for the solitude, maybe the safety of their own room, others the mountains, valleys and streams where no one enters or threatens. But why does our heart feel threatened when the Psalmist clearly says (Ps 91:1-2) our refuge and fortress is in the Lord my God in Him I will trust…and this is a perilous pestilence. The psalmist (Ps 42-43) asks his soul why it is cast down and disquieted and commands it to “hope in God…the help of his countenance.” He pleads to be sent the light and truth to lead him. When the heart is insecure the face reveals it. There is hope in God who gives a very real peace and assurance of an abundant life full of opportunity. We are pawns in a game of spiritual powers if we do not rule over our heart.
I paraphrase Jesus who says in John 14:27 “let not your heart be troubled and neither let it be afraid because I give you my peace in a way better than the world can.” Jesus says “Don’t allow your heart be troubled” which in fact indicates we can wallow in troubles when we are commanded to rule over this “pestilence.” We are rulers having dominion of the King who has ultimate dominion, who’s victory we share, that of Christ’s sprinkling of Holy Blood on our behalf and first born resurrection from the grip of death. Jesus Christ is our security, we are the temple of the living God (1 Cor 3:17) who lives in us by His Spirit in whom we live abundantly in Christ. Therefore we must rule our body and spirit by the knowledge of scripture, the truth that sets us free. And if this is so we must rule our bodies, in health, in action, in emotion. When you yield to Christ life becomes a wonderful adventure as the temple of God. The hymn ‘It Is Well’ proclaims this:
When peace, like a river, attends my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
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