Security Issues

 - Paul Dazet

We live in a world obsessed with protection.

Personal security. National security. Emotional security. Career security. We lock our doors, track our children, fund our militaries, and insulate our hearts, all in the name of being “safe.”

But what if our obsession with security is doing something to our souls?

What if it’s shrinking them?

What if it’s killing the very freedom God created us for?

Henri Nouwen once wrote:

“Freedom is the true human goal. Life is only true if it is free. An obsessive concern for security freezes us; it leads us to rigidity, fixation, and eventually death.”

We know this intuitively.

When we’re focused on control, on keeping ourselves protected, we become suspicious, guarded, unwilling to risk. 

We wall off our hearts and call it wisdom. 

We turn neighbors into threats. 

We trade imagination for fear. 

We stop trusting love to be enough.

And fear always wants more.

Fear makes us hoard.

Fear makes us hate.

Fear makes us justify violence.

Fear makes us bow at the altar of safety, no matter the cost.

The Gospel Is Not a Security Plan

The Good News of Jesus is not a strategy for staying safe. 

It’s a call to be free.

Not free from danger, but free from fear.

Not free from risk, but free to love.

Not free from loss, but free to live unguarded, open, and courageous in the face of it.

Because Jesus didn’t come to fortify our lives.

He came to lay his down.

He didn’t pick up a sword.

He picked up a cross.

He didn’t build walls of protection.

He broke down dividing walls of hostility (Eph. 2:14).

He didn’t promise his followers security.

He promised them trouble, and his presence in it.

Love Is Always a Risk

Love doesn’t carry a weapon.

Love doesn’t ask, “How do I stay safe?”

Love asks, “How can I give myself away?”

Love crosses borders.

Love welcomes enemies.

Love protects the vulnerable, not through dominance, but through presence.

And that terrifies our false selves, because real love will always feel unsafe to an ego addicted to control.

But if we are disciples of Jesus, then we are called out of the house of fear and into the house of love. And love, by its very nature, is unarmed.

“As long as national security is our primary concern, and national survival more important than preserving life on this planet, we continue to live in the house of fear.” ~ Henri Nouwen

So the question isn’t just, What do I need to feel secure?

The real question is, What am I willing to sacrifice for that feeling?

My compassion?

My neighbor?

My freedom?

My soul?

A Better Kind of Freedom

In the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus, freedom doesn’t come from power.

It doesn’t come from safety.

It doesn’t come from guarantees.

It comes from trust.

Trust that perfect love really does cast out fear.

Trust that Jesus is still Lord, even when things fall apart.

Trust that the way of the cross leads to life, not death.

So maybe the most faithful question we can ask is not:

“How do I protect myself?”

But:

“What would I do right now if I wasn’t afraid?”

That’s where freedom begins.

That’s where love lives.

That’s where Jesus still walks.

And He’s still calling us to follow.

A Note on Boundaries and Safety

This reflection isn’t meant to ignore the real need for boundaries or the wisdom of taking safety measures, especially for those who have experienced abuse or trauma. If that’s part of your story, please know: you deserve spaces that are safe, gentle, and healing.

Freedom in Christ never asks us to ignore wisdom or erase our wounds. It invites us to trust that love can still lead us, even as we honor what our healing requires.

May you be free.

Free from the illusion that control can save you.

Free from the fear that has whispered lies for too long.

Free from the armor that once protected you, but now only weighs you down.

May you live unguarded.

May you love boldly.

May you walk the path of Jesus,

Not the way of safety, but the way of resurrection.

Amen.