I heard the other day that security is make-believe. At first, I thought are you kidding? Have you had Pop-tarts with frosted brown sugar on them? Have you ever finished your fries only to find a couple more at the bottom of the bag?
I’m joking. However, it did make me start to think. Is security something we build in our dreams? Do we waste our lives away trying to find it after years of college, internships and sought-after careers?
Maybe we do. After all, lots of people experience a midlife crisis in their forties and fifties. It’s only natural that we question who we are and what we live for.
Only, my question revolves around the meaning of our culture’s inability to see value in anything other than money and power. We are constantly told in our friend circles, our movie theaters and even at family reunions to gain security in wealth and influence.
Just the other day, I felt excluded for not purchasing a new Michael Kor’s purse. All of my friends have one. It’s classic. Sometimes I don’t feel valuable unless I have valuable things around me.
Both indirectly and directly, we are pressured to own more and get more money to own more things.
Okay, before I go on, you have to understand that I like to buy clothes and food. I like to have influence in the world. I’m not saying it’s wrong to buy the next iPhone or climb the corporate ladder in the workplace.
I’m just questioning the entire foundation for why we do those things. If it’s to gain security, we’re chasing our tails here.
Security is defined as “the state of being free from danger or threat” in the New Oxford American Dictionary. To be honest, we are never actually in that position of complete safety. Anything could happen at any moment. I could lose my job. Someone could steal my identity and break into my bank account.
Security doesn’t lie in what our friends think of us. It doesn’t manifest itself in any career path or a row of numbers on a paycheck.
The feeling we get from having the newest brands and the nicest house can only last so long. It’s a short-lived false sense of security that may or may not help in the future.
We can’t find what our souls were made for in the things we have. True security can only be found with Jesus. There, we are filled with peace and safety.
