Accepting love from someone can be difficult at times. One of the reasons we may not accept love is because we are insecure. We are not happy with who we are in ourselves. 

It can be hard admitting we feel insecure because we don’t want to feel weak to anyone else. You are not alone though if you feel like this. The feeling of insecurity is a bigger issue than we really know. 

In 2015, it was revealed in a YouGov survey that over a third of people in the UK are unhappy with their own weight and body image.

Does this surprise you? To be honest, it didn’t surprise me. Why? Because I am part of that statistic. 

There are many reasons as to why we suffer from insecurity. One of the main reasons could be due to experiences we have received in our childhood. To name a few:

• Bullying
• Not receiving encouragement from our parents
• Failing in exams
• Being rejected
• Childhood trauma
• Losing a loved one
• Not receiving love from a parent

If we want to enjoy the love that God wants to give to us then we need to come to terms with our insecurity. Easier said than done, right? It means that we need to admit we are insecure and try to pinpoint where it stems from. 

If we want to enjoy the love that God wants to give to us then we need to come to terms with our insecurity. Share on X

This is half the battle. 

For me personally, I experienced years of childhood trauma. This was then followed by bullying throughout my education, up until I left college at 18. I felt rejected. Exams didn’t go well either and I always felt like I had fallen short. I couldn’t live up to expectations from people around me. 

Insecurity has been around in this world since Adam and Eve, believe it or not. They didn’t want to face God because of the insecurity they felt when the realised they were naked. It didn’t stop with them either. 

Even the great leaders in the Bible felt insecure. Moses is a great example. He ran away to the desert when he felt insecure where he lived. When God called him from the burning bush, Moses replied:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:7-11)

How do we overcome these insecurities? 

It’s not easy and it will be a long journey of retraining the mind to what is true. We have a Great Resource to which we can turn to gain confidence. God’s love. By realising how much God loves us, in time we will be able to overcome our insecurity and accept it.

We have a Great Resource to which we can turn to gain confidence. God’s love. Share on X

One of my favourite Bible readings to demonstrate this is from Zephaniah. 

A friend sent me this verse when I needed to hear it most a few years ago. She suggested I should substitute the word you with my own name to make it more personal. So I did. It made such a difference with how I accepted these words for myself. 

Something to think about…

Why don’t you make the verse your own? Write the verse out on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere prominent, like on the mirror – somewhere you will see it every day. Use the below example and change the underlined name for your own. See what a difference it makes in how it makes you feel more secure. I would love to know if it does. 

“The Lord my God is with Lynne, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in Lynne, He will quiet Lynne with his love, He will rejoice over Lynne with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Prayer

Lord, help me to see that I am loved and accepted just as I am. You take great delight in me despite what I have been through. Help me to feel secure in your love. Amen.