Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?
Insecurity induces imaginary fear and incites people-pleasing. It controls our thinking and morphs us into someone who we would hate to be. An insecure person will endeavor to impress people rather than please God. Insecurity hurls people into a vicious circle of doing, saying and choosing what would appease men until it becomes their second nature.
On the other hand when our mind is focused on pleasing God, we will become bold and courageous. Nothing that comes our way will threaten or intimidate us. There will be no fear of people, power or position. The early apostles were arrested for their faith and threatened not to preach the gospel but the uneducated unschooled disciples of Jesus were bursting with zeal for the Lord. They feared neither man nor the sentence of death. Peter and John responded to the Sanhedrin who was instrumental in crucifying Jesus; “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). Insecurity will make us cowards and cringe in dread but security in the Lord will make us bold and audacious.
The Sanhedrin killed Jesus as they were envious and intimidated to watch the crowds follow Him (Mark 15:10). Envy which is rooted in insecurity made them hate the Miracle Man Jesus. “Insecurity is an ugly thing. It makes you hate people you don’t even know” — Drake.
Three root causes of Insecurity:
1. Dread: Fear of being rejected will keep us under the grip of dread. The truth is that no matter who we are, not everyone will like us. There will be people who will reject us because of their own insecurities and ego. So, step 1 is to uproot the need to be accepted by everyone. “When someone leaves you, it doesn’t mean you are not lovable. It simply means that they were not meant to be in your life.” We will never be rejected by the One who formed us in our mother’s womb. Uproot dread.
2. Demean: Demeaning ourselves is an expression of insecurity that is hidden in us. Lack of self-confidence is a clear indicator that we are incarcerated by insecurity. We may not be as talented as our neighbour, we may not be as skilled as our sibling or as intelligent as our colleague but we are gifted with everything we need to fulfill our special purpose. Don’t demean yourself.
3. Deification: Deification is ‘hero worship’. Deification of man is idolatry. The more we idolize and please men, the further away we would be from pleasing God. Respect people and honour anointing but do not fall into the sin of deification.
Uproot the fear of man, do not demean yourself and stay away from deification to destroy insecurity.
Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Prayer: Father God, help me to keep away from pleasing man but to honour you in all that we do and say. Let there be no stench of deification in me. Amen.
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