Your life is secure because you belong to Christ. And your life is significant because he has chosen you to play a role in advancing his kingdom. So when you struggle with fear and insecurity, remember that you are secure and significant in Christ!
Request the booklet "Breaking the Bonds of Fear."
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and welcome to Joni and Friends.
Where I sure do love sharing hope and also lots of great anchors in Scripture to help you hold onto that hope. And often here on the program, it’ll start with a story. And today I’m reflecting back on a time when a woman once asked, “Joni, you seem so confident. You seem to fear nothing. Have you always been that way?” Well, inwardly I smiled. If she only knew, you know, the knots I feel in my stomach before I speak to a big crowd or times I’ve been scared stiff to sit in front of a blank canvas with a paintbrush. Or times I’d lie awake at night worrying about deadlines or fretting that my words offended a co-worker. And sometimes I just fear getting older, getting weaker, becoming more dependent. And I could go on. So sure, yeah, I appear confident; but has it always been that way?
Well, I would say this: for all my life – at least my Christian life – I have battled to exchange my fears and worries for trust in God. I did this even when I was little. In my childhood, I was so worried, I’d scramble to keep up with my three older, more athletic sisters. As a four-year-old, I’d put on a good face and would cling to the saddle horn as my sixteen-hands-high horse galloped behind the horses of my sisters. I did not dare tell them how scared I was, or fearful. That was way back when. And my life journey has been all about putting aside those insecurities. And, boy, has my paralysis helped with that. Yeah, true, it’s hard; so hard; but it sure is helpful. At first, my suffering made me feel more insecure, more worried, more unsure of myself. But my wheelchair forced me to face those shortcomings about myself. My disability is the very thing that helped me overcome those fears and worries. Over the years God used my quadriplegia to force me to sit still, quit competing, quit comparing, and to be quiet before him. People are only as secure as the source of their security, and if we are secure in Christ, then we have every reason to be confident. And that is huge. Whether you are in a wheelchair or not!
Christian psychologists say that good mental health springs from two things: a sense of security and significance. We find security in who we are and significance in what we do. And Acts 17:28 says, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” So since Christ is the source of peace, joy, strength, rest, and in him we live and move and have our very being, we have unfettered access to his strength and rest, peace and joy. And oh my goodness. So we can be secure and feel significant when we place our trust in Jesus. I mean, think of it. Exactly who are you? Well, you are a child of God and a co-heir with Christ. You’re more than a conqueror. You’re chosen by him. And what is it that you do? You serve the Lord. You have a role to play in Christ's kingdom, and you are free to love others who may not understand your role.
So if you struggle with fears and worries, if you lack confidence – and yeah, a tad bit insecure – recognize that in Christ you move and breathe and have your very being. Your life is secure because you are his. And your life is significant because there’s a service for you to do for him. This is so rich, and I’d like you to read more about it in a pamphlet I wrote called “Breaking the Bonds of Fear,” and I insist you have one! So go to joniradio.org and ask for your free copy. Find out more about your security and your significance in Jesus Christ. Read about it today at joniradio.org.
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