Insecurity is the Gateway to Humility

     As I was preparing for my sermon for this last Sunday at the local youth group I help out with, this concept hit me like a ton of bricks. "Insecurity is the gateway to humility." At first this phrase sounds absolutely ridiculous, but as I began to dig it actually started to make some sense.

     The definition of insecurity is self-doubt. As I thought about this I realized that when we are insecure we doubt that we can do certain things. Well, I believe that we need to doubt that we, by ourselves, can do anything. The evil sense of insecurity is when we coward back into a fetal position and look at others and think that we could never be as funny, or pretty, or sociable as whoever comes to mind. We are trying to be what we think we need to be on our own. The fact of the matter though, is that when we doubt that we can do anything by ourselves and stop trying so hard, that we are forced to be secure in God. When God is where we place our security it allows us to be bold and confident in how He created us. Then we are free to believe that He will do and work in and through us. When we doubt our humans selves to live this life on our own, it forces us to our knees and ask God to work in and through us. This is John 15. Jesus is talking about how He is the vine and we are the branches. When we stay connected to the vine (remaining secure in Him), He is able to provide everything that we need in life.

     Getting to this place of insecurity is hard and confusing. I believe that Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 18. He is telling the disciples that unless they become like little children, then they will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This passage can be a bit confusing because what aspects are to be like little children and what aspects (like temper-tantrums) are we to leave behind. Jesus, in my opinion, wants us to have the insecurity of a child. Think about it, if when you were four years old a parent came to you and asked, "Can you bring the car around for me?" you would look at them completely dumbfounded. If you were a bright four-year-old then you may have said, "I can't reach the pedal, or see over the steering wheel unless you help me." At that age we realized that we could do nothing without someone's help. Everything we did depended on someone helping us. We need to doubt ourselves, like a little child, that we can do anything on our own.

     When we have a childlike insecurity we are forced to remain secure in God knowing that we can do nothing without Him. We are able to enter a place where we realize we need Him to bear fruit (John 15), fruit as basic as love. This place then therefore drives us to the ultimate form of humility, complete dependence on God. Insecurity is the gateway to humility.