Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. I’m John Pound, and I’m coming to you today from Southland Christian Camp here in Ringgold, Louisiana. Today I’d like to talk to you about the issue of insecurity.

This week while I was preaching on spiritual strongholds, I had a young lady come up to me after the message, and she began to talk about one of her strongholds in her life was actually her personal insecurity. She began to describe the fact that even though she comes from a family that seems like they have everything together, she actually feels like she doesn’t fit there.

She began to describe how she feels inferior to her brothers and sisters and her parents. in several different ways. And really how that’s affected not just her relationship with her family, but her relationship with others, and ultimately even her relationship with God.

Teenagers, insecurity is a real thing. And I remember being a teenager and thinking back, even as I talked with her, I thought back to some of the areas of my life when I was a teen where I struggled. I’ve always worn glasses all my life.

And I remember as a teenager struggling with insecurities about how I looked and even struggling with insecurities about how smart I was or the way I came across to people. I never felt like I was the most popular person or the coolest person or what have you. And I remember most of my teenage life honestly was dominated by how I felt other people perceived me, what they thought about me.

And as we talk about insecurities today, I really want to address this issue and kind of get to the core of it. I believe that insecurity at its core is really a case of mistaken identity. You say, well, what do you mean?

Well, Ephesians chapter 1, excuse me, chapter 2 says this.

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past she walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But I love verse 4.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, that means made us alive, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You see, when it comes to insecurity, when we talk about insecurities, typically the subject of our insecurity is our own selves.

Or maybe it’s a version of us, how we’re perceived by others. Usually if someone talks about their insecurity, they’re talking about maybe their weight. They talk about how they look.

They talk about how smart they are or how smart they’re not, how funny they don’t think they are, whatever the case may be. And in reality, what they’re describing is this is how I feel like I come across to other people. When other people look at me, this is what I think they see.

And what happens is they truly begin to find their identity in that. Maybe a young person who struggles in school feels like that’s all that people think of when they think of that person. They don’t think of who that person is on the inside.

They don’t think about their personality. They don’t think about their gifts that God has given them. They think all the people think of when they look at me is how I fail, all my tests in school.

Or maybe somebody who’s overweight says the only thing that people think of when they look at me is they think I’m the kid that’s overweight. Or I’m the kid that can’t play sports well or fill in the blank. But you see, teenager, all of those insecurities have a single common thread.

And that’s the focus of all those insecurities is us. You see, the first step in overcoming your insecurity is recognizing that your focus personally shouldn’t be on you. It should be on the Lord.

If we always look at ourselves under a microscope, we’re always going to find flaws. We’re all sinners. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God according to the Bible.

Every single one of us knows ourselves better than anyone else. And if you look hard enough in your life, you’re going to find areas of failure. You’re going to find flaws in your life.

However, at the same time, every person that has ever been born again, God has a divine purpose for that person. And he has specific gifts that he’s given that person. Teenager, you have gifts and abilities and talents that no one else has.

You have a job, you have a will for your life that God has for you that no one else has. You have a race that you can run that no one else can run. And if your focus is always specifically on yourself, all you’re going to see are your failures.

But if you’ll shift your focus to God, and you’ll shift your focus to how good he is, how merciful he is, you’ll shift your focus to his purpose for you, the gifts that he’s given you, well, you’re not going to be focused on your flaws. You’re going to begin to be focused on His person and His purpose for you. When we look at ourselves, we often have a tendency to define ourselves by our failures.

Truly, we look at the worst things we’ve done in our life, and we say, you know, that’s really who I am. But the Bible says something different here in this passage in Ephesians 2. You see, insecurity comes from a case of mistaken identity.

Because the Bible doesn’t define you by your failures. It defines you by your Savior. In this passage, Paul describes people that were dead in their trespasses and sins.

He describes people that walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. He describes people that had their conversation and the lust of the flesh. They fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

They were by nature the children of wrath. He describes fallen people, sinful people. And all of us have sin in our lives.

All of us have spiritual baggage, if you will. But when he describes those people, he then says this. He says, that’s who you were.

And then he says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were those people, those fallen people, even when we were dead in sins, he’s quickened us together in union with Christ. He’s raised us up together.

He’s made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. In fact, in verse 10 it says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Here’s basically what the Bible is saying there. You used to be a child of wrath. You used to be somebody whose life was headed nowhere fast.

But now in Christ Jesus, you’re of great value. You’re of great worth. You have a purpose.

You’ve been raised up together with him. You’ve been made alive in him. You’ve been seated with him in the heavenlies.

You’ve been created unto good works. In fact, in Romans, he would say this, in Romans chapter 7, talking about Paul’s own personal struggle with sin. He said, it’s no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

In Galatians chapter 2, he says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Teenager today, there may be a major failure in your life. There may be serious problems going on.

You might have some struggles. And sure, there may be some things that you don’t like about yourself. But the reality is if you identify yourself with those things, all you’re going to find is sorrow and discouragement.

You have to learn to find your identity in who you are in Jesus Christ. And who that person is, is someone who’s saved and on their way to heaven if you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior. The Bible says in Romans 8 that that person is not condemned.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The Bible says that you’re a new creature in Christ. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new. The Bible says that you’re a joint heir. You’re a joint heir with Christ.

That you’re a partaker of His grace. That you have a purpose. That God has a plan for you.

You were created unto good works. That God has a job for you to do. That only you can do.

So teenager today, maybe you’re here and you’re struggling with insecurity. Maybe you feel like, I’m never going to be anything great. I’m never going to do anything special.

But I want to encourage you today. God has a plan for you. Before you were even born, God knew you.

And he had a plan for your life. And if you’re here today and you’re saved, you can have hope in God’s identity for you. in who you are in Jesus Christ.

You see, when we focus on ourself, it always leads to discouragement. But when we focus on God, we focus on Jesus Christ and who we are in Him. It leads to not just joy, but purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction.

You know, this reminds me of a story I recently heard by one of my college professors. He was preaching at a camp. And he began to tell a story of when he went on a missions trip to Africa.

A friend of his was a pastor there and had an orphanage. The preacher I’m talking about, he went with his friend to this orphanage one day, and as he got to the orphanage, he said, these children came out. But they didn’t walk out of the orphanage.

They crawled. The majority of the children in that orphanage had been abandoned on the street when they were born. And many of them were deformed or had suffered grotesque and terrible abuse.

Most of them were missing limbs, arms, feet, legs. Several of them were missing their nose or their ears. And the preacher said, honestly, it was a disgusting sight.

Well, he spent the day with them, and the next day, the pastor asked him if he would preach in their morning chapel. He was a little unsure of what to preach.

these African children didn’t know English very well so he knew it needed to be simple but he also felt so concerned for them and sympathized with their condition he stood up that morning and took a banana and he held it up for the crowd to see and he said how much he loved bananas. And then he began to stick the banana in his mouth, peel and all, just the whole thing.

And all of a sudden, all of the children started to scream out, no, no, no, don’t eat it that way. Don’t eat it that way. And they showed him how to peel it.

He acted as if he’d never seen the inside of a banana before and he said, oh. He took a bite of the inside, and he talked about how good it was. And then he made it a powerful illustration.

He said, children outside of the banana, no good. Inside of the banana, very good. And then he pointed to them, and he said, children, outside, no good.

But inside, God has made very good. Teenager, maybe you have some things that you wish you could change. But let me tell you, God has made the inside very good if you’re a born-again child of his.

Today, you can take hope in the fact that your inner man, who you really are, has been renewed and conformed and is being conformed to the image of who Jesus Christ is. Because he lives inside of you. Insecurities.

Will you allow them to dominate your life? Will you allow them to take over your thinking? where you’ll begin to find your identity in who Christ is and rest in His love for you.