What about our security?

This is the penultimate post in my 'what about' series that was prompted by this post.

Security whether it's national security protecting your country from terrorism or personal security protecting your home from thieves, it's a given these days that we have a right to be kept safe from harm. It is our inalienable right to this and more.

Of course these rights are pretty thinly spread around the globe - security is a distant dream for those in Darfur or Eastern Congo or Afghanistan. Or closer to home for children like Baby P or the women trafficked into prostitution.

But we've extended the idea of security ever further. Insuring everything in sight has contributed to this. We want not merely our persons and freedoms to be secure but we also want our possessions and dreams to be secure.

We now see it as right to retire as early as possible, as a right to be rich and well fed, it is a right to not having anyone disturb my peace, and it is my right to safeguarded from harm to have all my needs met and to know they will be met as far as advance as possible. Closely connected to this is the idea that it must always be someone else's fault when something goes wrong. When a house floods it's the government's fault for not building flood defences not my fault for living next to a river.

It's no surprise that we increasingly want ever greater security over the here and now because we've lost touch with the eternal, we have no confidence in the kingdom that will never end. Not now, not later. When you think now is all you've got then you need to hold on to it as tightly as possible and protect is hard as you can.

Psalm 91:2 becomes difficult to say when you have a life plan that is centred around your comfort and convenience rather than his kingdom and glory. Instead it becomes 'I will say to my job prospects/stockmarket/ property prices/ pension plan/ daddy's fortune/ government bailout "my refuge and my fortress, in whom I trust"'

That's not to say we shouldn't plan for the future, but any future provision is so that we can continue serving the king and His kingdom when paid employment is no longer an option not so we can be safe and secure.

True security comes from living in the will of God and focusing on that (Luke 12:27-31) but most of us don't believe that enough to sacrifice comfort for calling or give up pleasures for purpose. The steps are often small ones to step out and give a little time here, to give a little more money there, to pray for opportunity to serve rather than to be served.