SECURITY

Security. It’s almost a buzzword of the 21^st century.

We have security guards everywhere, security gates and bars in our homes, residential areas that are gated for security, and security checks at every airport. We are advised to keep our personal information secure, we carry identity documents for security purposes, we secure our valuables in safes and bank vaults, we insure everything we own against possible loss. We look for security in our relationships and in our employment.

Humanity has a basic, deepseated need to be and to feel secure. As children, we need the security of a parent’s love and care. As adults, we look to a husband or a wife to provide that secure feeling, to doctors, to policemen, or sometimes, to the government.  We know that our security can be violated and we are terrified of being left open and vulnerable to harm. And yet, in all our quest for security, we never really seem to find it.

Why is this?

We were created to know total security – to know with complete assurance that we are perfectly loved and cared for by a God who holds us in His hands and will never let us go. The first man and woman knew this security and the peace and rest of heart that accompanies it. They were given a garden to live in and everything they needed was superabundantly supplied. They lacked nothing. And, to crown it all, the God who personified their security met and talked with them every day. There was nothing at all to threaten that perfect peace.

Until one day, when their security was shattered by their own tragic choice – the choice to be their own   gods. We, their descendents, have been looking for security ever since, in every possible way. And today, with the shaking of everything that’s happening all around us, from economic collapse to the literal shaking of the earth in massive earthquakes, we are less secure than we have ever been.

There is only one way to regain the true security that we all so desperately want, and the rest and peace of mind that seem so elusive. We need to reverse, for ourselves, the choice that was made in that garden. We need to come back to the only Security there ever has been – to the God who holds us in His hands and cares for us completely. We need to realise we can never provide our own security, and turn our lives over to Him, making Him Lord of our lives. Which means that He calls the shots. And we start by receiving the forgiveness of our rebellion, forgiveness  that He made possible by His death. It’s as simple, and as difficult, as that. Simple, because He forgives us at once,  and freely; difficult, because it costs us our pride.

The only other option is to run your own life and try to find peace in all the places that will never provide the total, permanent security you so desperately want.