Bob Goff is a nationally known speaker and author. He wrote the book titled, Love Does. He was speaking on a podcast and made this statement.
“100% of the time I am 80% insecure. I’ve learned to cope with and manage my insecurity. But it’s always there.”
Bobb Goff
Marian Webster uses these terms to define insecure. They include uncertain, shaky, not confident, deficient of assurance.
- Around a good singer I become insecure because I often sing off key.
- Around a Greek and Hebrew Bible scholar I become less Bible confident.
- Around highly trained athletes I see deficits in my work-out discipline.
- Around healthy individuals with great diets I get a less confident in my food choices.
Emotional insecurity seems to be a fact of life. Spiritual security is completely different. It is heavily weighted by grace, mercy, and forgiveness. It includes Jesus’ sacrifice and sins being forgiven.
This is what I think Bob Goff is saying. He is 100% spiritually secure in Christ. At the same time he feels 80% emotionally insecure. He didn’t go into more details but I sure love his honesty.
Close
I am not trying to speak for Bob Goff. Rather, I am highlighting the fact that we are both spiritual and emotional beings.
Prayer
Father, help me run my emotional beliefs in harmony with my spiritual beliefs. You made me. You know me. You made me both emotional and spiritual. Help me with inner oneness. Bless me. Amen.
Bible Connection
Praise be to God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. – Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
So, this principle, I have discovered: When I want to do, good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. – Romans 7:21-23 (NIV)
Comments
2 responses to “Managing Insecurity”
So, this just occurred to me as I was reading this.
It is incredibly, if not entirely, accurate to say that I am in a constant state of being a single step away from an insecurity meltdown.
A single word said to me that is not composed completely of praise and adoration, a single quirked eyebrow at my antics, a single instance of someone else out-performing me in what I believe to be one of my strengths.
Wow… This is big. This really resonates with me.
So then, when I am confronted by my insecurities, I have two choices.
1. I can choose to be curious and evaluate the feeling of insecurity and identify where it’s coming from. I can choose to acknowledge my limitations or shortcomings that gave rise to the insecurity. I can then choose to rest securely in my drive, ambition, and conviction for self-improvement.
~or~
2. I can choose to be overwhelmed by the feeling of insecurity. I can choose to interpret my limitations or shortcomings as personal flaws and failures of myself. I can then choose to react, isolate, shut down, attack, blame, wallow, dismiss, overcompensate, etc, etc, ad nauseam.
Well dang. When I lay out the choices like that, it seems rather obvious which one would be better and healthier for me, and for those around me.
Bonus content!
I am, as I write this, feeling very insecure! I am choosing to be curious and evaluate that. It seems to be roored in my perceived lack of ability to make healthy, “obvious” choices.
I choose to acknowledge that I have made many unhealthy choices in the past, based on my very limited knowledge of my own needs and emotional regulation.
I now choose to rest securely and contented in the knowledge that I am making incredible self-improvement, and that I am not now, nor will I ever be again, satisfied and complacent in my drive ambition and conviction for self-improvement and personal refinement.
This growth journey that I am on now is a lifelong journey. I will never be done growing; I will never achieve my maximum potential. And that is exciting.
Thank you again, Stephen, for this blog.
Thank you for reminding us that we are all on a growth mission. It’s God’s idea.