Christian friends, I am concerned. I’m concerned because we’ve bought into a lie.

And here it is: Jesus plus (fill in the blank) will make me secure.

It’s a subtle lie and it sneaks in everywhere. We are all insecure people, so by nature, we must find our security somewhere. We love ourselves some Jesus, sure. But all over Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, you name it – we are constantly seeking to fill the black hole of insecurity in our hearts with Jesus…and something else. Or a few somethings.

This can look like a lot of things. Here are some examples:
1) Jesus Plus My Relationship
2) Jesus Plus My Career
3) Jesus Plus My Money
4) Jesus Plus My Popular Facebook Posts (ouch)
5) Jesus Plus My Weight Loss
6) Jesus Plus My Sexuality

We constantly squeeze other things for every drop of security we can get from them. And I’m not saying that desires are bad. I’m not a Buddhist. But there’s a difference between wanting something and choke-holding it for more than it can give. Far too often, we claim that Jesus is our Savior but we function as if we need a carry-on. An extra bag. A backup.

We want to walk around in this life as secure people who are free to love others. We really do. But even though we’ve said yes to Jesus, we are waiting until we get our “plus” before we really start walking like that. So what does that reveal? It reveals that we are really trusting in something else for our salvation.

So what’s the antidote to this problem? We have to fall in love with Jesus again.

It sounds mushy, but it’s not. It’s vital. We have to recognize that in Jesus, we’ve been given more than enough. We’ve been given someone who provides every ounce of love we’ve ever sought after. Only when we do this are we truly able to jettison insecurity.

What does it look like to fall in love with Jesus? Unfortunately, I don’t have a super pragmatic 7-step solution for you. All I have is this: try meditating on the cross. It’s Passion Week, so this shouldn’t be so hard. Meditate on the scene of the cross and repeat this phrase:

If I have Jesus and nothing else…I have everything.

It’s a difficult truth, but it’s the only one that will really make us secure. That’s because Jesus is the only one who fully loved us before we could ever love Him back.

SL