Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ,

and brother of James,

to those who are the called,

beloved in God the Father,

and kept for Jesus Christ.

Jude 1 (NAS)

Insecurity. It can drag you down into a sticky morass of self-condemnation, self-degradation, and self-doubt.[1]

I think there is one prevailing need controlling much of our culture today regardless of age or position’from small children to people in nursing homes. It is destructive and debilitating and ruthless. That prime need is “security.”

Security: Believing I am secure in my marriage; believing that mom and dad love me; believing that my children still love me and respect me even though I’m old; believing I am useful and accepted; believing I am secure in my job; believing my parents are going to stay together and home will still be there for me after school today, believing that the people around me don’t make fun of me; believing that I am important in my world, ad infinitum.

Small children begin building patterns of insecurity when they are randomly placed in different environments’home for a few hours today, indifferent baby sitters, day-care centers, and to bed early leaving the need for security wrestling with loneliness, fear, and doubt in their dreams. They “want” something, but they don’t even know what it is they want.

Women will say that their greatest need is for security'”I know my husband loves me. He would not have an affair. But something’s wrong. I just feel it!” “He’s gone so much of the time and I long for the security that comes from his being here when I need him.” “I am left with everything to do’he has abandoned all of his responsibilities as my husband.” “I feel secure when he holds me in his arms, but he doesn’t have time to do that anymore.” And these insecure women begin searching for security in other places.

That’s the pain of the world “talking” to us. What we must remember is that we are not of this world. We belong to another world. We are of this world temporarily where we are surrounded by evil, live a great deal of our life protecting ourselves from evil, and read about and hear about evil things happening all the time. Murder. Rape. Revenge. Divorce. Rage. Mass shootings. Abused wives. Abandoned children. Why? Because Satan is the ruler of this world and when God is not respected and allowed to be a part of a person’s life, then Satan takes over and is free to harass and deceive and destroy. What is his purpose? What does he really expect to gain from the evil that permeates his very being? He is hoping against hope that he can undermine the security we have in Father.[2]

Jude tells us through the Bible’God speaking to us’that we are “called.” If I am “called,” am I secure? That we are “beloved,” and if I am “beloved”, am I secure? That we are “kept.” And if I am “kept”, am I secure? If He lives in me and is with me in the battles that come to me in this evil world, am I secure? Is He with me when I’m in the hospital? Is he with my son in Iraq? Is He with my mother in the nursing home? Is He with me when my husband walks out the door and yells, “Goodbye, and don’t expect me to come back!” Yes, when evil invades our lives, He is still there. He has conquered this world for me. That doesn’t mean being free from the evils of the world. It does mean that the evil of this world cannot destroy me.

There is one problem, just one. I either believe what He tells me or I don’t believe what He tells me. I can wrap myself in His impenetrable coat of security or I can toss that coat aside and face my world with nothing, because I have no security with which to cover myself! I am uncovered’open, vulnerable, defenseless, and doomed to be defeated.

The choice is mine. He gives me that freedom! The freedom to choose! I choose. I make up my mind. I can seek my “security” in the world where evil hovers around me, or I can declare that my Security comes from that Person who loved me so much that He would rather die than live without me!”[3] Jesus Christ. He is my Security.