“I know it’s not real, but I’m still afraid.”
My son said this to me as he jumped into my arms when we were walking through a neighborhood full of shockingly creepy Halloween decorations. There was a robotic werewolf wrestling against the bars of a cage, shrouded in haze and flashing lights.
“That’s okay, my son. I’ve still got you.” It warmed my heart; my son is still small enough for me to carry him even though he’s freshly smart enough to articulate his inner life.
Insecurity grasping for security isn’t an emotional experience that we ever truly outgrow. Many experienced followers of Jesus, at every age, grapple with a sense of self that is fractured, unstable, and too easily subjected to circumstances. The stress that ensues steals our sleep, interrupts our relationships, and leads to both over-functioning (anxiety) and under-functioning (depression).
We often try to treat the symptoms without dealing with the root of the issue: our lack of secure connection to our Father in heaven. The insecurity that haunts our psyches is something we ought to seek to repent of—not necessarily the feeling itself, but the underlying unbelief that creates it—rather than make peace with it, treat it as normal or inevitable. Attacking insecurity involves three things: submitting to our status as the Father’s adopted children, operating in integrity in relationship with our siblings, and fighting our fear of man with the fear of the Lord.
Our Status as Adopted Children
Our feelings tell us the truth about how we’re making sense of the world around us. When our house is built on a poor foundation and we see the floods rising, our heart rate spikes, worry pours forth, and panic tears through our once-quiet mind. This disorienting and uncomfortable experience can revel the sad fact that we’ve built our lives not upon Christ, but sinking sands—things like money, the approval of peers, and self-righteousness.
These moments should trigger reflection: upon what—or whom—have I built my life? Where have I placed my confidence? I was feeling secure, but that source of security is now under siege, proving itself to be an illusion. This newfound fragility is, in that sense, sober disillusionment.
Do I believe my Father in Heaven owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Do I really believe I am His irrevocable heir? Do I sincerely believe I’ve been made a child of God by sheer grace? Do I functionally place my hope in the finished work of Jesus and his coming new creation?
I have a friend whose Father is incredibly wealthy. On the one hand, my friend is comforted by this; on the other hand, he hates this. He likes knowing he has no reason to be afraid of financial ruin, but he doesn’t like that he can’t take credit for being a self-made man. There is a holy swagger that looks like a paradox of fearlessness and humility that emerges when we submit to the status our Father has assigned to us as his children. We have everything we need, so we’re secure; and we know we’ve earned none of it, so we’re grateful.
Our insecurity reveals the truth about how secure we are in Christ.
Operating in Integrity
It is one thing to think and believe rightly about our Father in Heaven. It is another to live out that truth in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Often, insecurity is downstream from a fractured sense of self. We behave one way in public, another in private—acting out one identity at home, another at work, another online, another at the gym, and yet another in the group chat. This fractured and disintegrated self creates anxiety because there is a chronic fear that worlds will collide and embarrassment will ensue.
One of the overlooked “survival response” mechanisms is fawn. We may be familiar with fight, flight, and freeze, but fawn is acting in such a way that we earn the approval of the person who we are looking to for security—especially when we compromise our integrity in doing so. We act out a false self to please others, because our sense of worth depends on theirs. We lie about ourselves with our words and actions to take hold of momentary relief from awkwardness, fear of abandonment, and disapproval.
Stepping towards integration—being an authentic, congruent self in every environment—is painful because it requires confessing our lack of integrity. This is partly why confessing your sin is healing (Jas. 5:16): it bridges separated relational realties and brings what is in the dark into the light. It’s rejecting the temptation to have multiple identities in favor of having one identity, rooted and grounded in love. This is a risk because we might be rejected. But the reward is integrity and the possibility of a genuine relationship in which we’re known and loved, not falsely known and loved. Therein legitimate security is found.
Fighting Fear with Fear
There is much we can fear. Fear is opposed to security because it signals that something we love is being threatened. The solution to fears that create insecurity is not merely to become less fearful, but to fear rightly. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). This fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the starting point for living God’s Word with skill and balance.
When we fear the Lord, we’re aware of his presence and authority. When we learn about the One whom we fear, we find that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exod. 34:6–7). When we are attuned to the opinions of the gracious and merciful Triune Godhead above all other perspectives, we find that security naturally emerges, because the One who does not change has bestowed on us a dignity, purpose, and value that cannot be shaken.
Jump In
Insecurity isn’t itself sinful, but it is downstream from sin: from living a fractured life, resisting our adopted status given by the Father, and from allowing disordered fears to supersede our fear of God. When we labor to repent of the causes of our insecurity, our sense of self comes into alignment with reality as we embrace a sober, Spirit-filled, and truly integrated identity.
As securely attached children jump into the arms of their fathers when fears arise, so also we lean into the arms of God Most High, whose Spirit assures us of His presence and reminds us not just of who we are, but of whose we are: “That’s okay, my son. I’ve still got you.”
“Admittedly, I have a bias towards local-church histories, finding each and every local-church’s story fascinating. But Caleb Morell’s A Light on the Hill: The Surprising Story of How a Local Church in the Nation’s Capital Influenced Evangelicalism proved especially gripping to me, and will prove encouraging for every minister who reads it. Morell details the 150-year story of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in well researched but easy-to-read prose, grippingly telling the story of one of America’s most influential churches. The attentive reader will find lessons for local-church ministry sprinkled throughout but will also find the culminating chapters, which focus on the long, fruitful tenure of pastor Mark Dever, particularly of interest. The book is a reminder of how influential one church, strategically placed and biblically led, can be and how impactful one pastor, through one church, can impact multiple generations of ministers.”
“The past decade has witnessed non-stop Trinity dialogue and debate in much of evangelicalism. Much of that discussion has trickled down to the local church level, prompting church members to rediscover ancient, essential doctrines. Along these lines, the 40 Questions Series, capably edited by Benjamin Merkle, has served the church well by answering commonly asked questions in well informed, yet understandable terms. Matthew Emerson and Lucas Stamps’ 40 Questions about the Trinity is a helpful contribution and a welcome addition to the 40 Questions Series. All trying to sort out the contemporary Trinity conversations—or just those needing a refresher on theology proper—will be well served by Emerson and Stamps’ work.”
“As a perennially misunderstood group, the Puritans are in regular need of definition and introduction. The first edition of this book in 2006 served that purpose well, but when I learned the second edition contained 40% new material I knew this revised and expanded edition of Meet the Puritans would serve now as the standard resource for its intended reading audiences of pew, pulpit, and podium. The authors are like informed and enthusiastic docents greeting you at the entrance of a large museum—eager to tell you where to start and happy to share their own favorite galleries to help you make the most of your visit. Meet the Puritans is very much worth the price of admission.”
“Churches are the Bible’s missions strategy. This simple premise rings throughout this book as both a head-nodding reminder and as a chin-scratching epiphany. Written by two seasoned missionaries who pastor international, English-speaking churches in Muslim countries, Prioritizing the Church in Missions rehearses for the reader the centrality of the local church in God’s plan while also explaining why this idea is needed to bring clarity for 21st missiological practice. For anyone or any church who loves the nations, this book will prove helpful.”
“This book is neither complicated nor clever, but its thrust is utterly consequential. The church does not need more hired-hands or professionalized parrots. No, the church needs paternal pastors. Having written my dissertation on 1 Timothy 3:4-5, I was supremely curious to read Chap Bettis’s practical exposition of these verses, and he did not disappoint. From exegetical insights to relational wisdom and experiential guidance, this book outlines how the weight of fatherhood trains men for the work of ministry. Numerous sections within the book reveal Bettis’ acquaintance with the gritty questions of daily parenting and daily pastoring – each of which are answered (or navigated) with skill and grace. I encourage any father, pastor, or man aspiring to be such to read this book, and then internalize it. May we raise more fathers who feel like a pastor, and pastors who feel like a father.”
“We all have turned to look for something in the back seat while driving down the highway, only to look up again and realize the car has veered off course into danger. Dr. Jared Wilson warns of this drift in ministry too: “The moment we take our eyes off the center is when we begin to move away from it” (9). Partially a post-op on the gospel-centered movement of the past 20 years, and partially a prophetic plea with the church’s leaders of the next 20 years, Wilson exposes the dangers of drifting into victimhood, dryness, superficiality, pragmatism, and legalism. We must return, again and again, to gospel-centrality. Yes, indeed, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1). ”
“Nobody today speaks to the heart with such pastoral grace as Ray Ortlund, and this book, while short and sweet, is nevertheless a loving stare at a deep, deep well of God’s mercy. With a scholar’s resource and a father’s tone, Ortlund guides the reader through the pains of betrayal, loss, death, and the entrapment of his or her own sins to see that the Lord who abides high on his holy hill is also down in the smoking crater, abiding with the lowly and brokenhearted. Especially for those whose life has bottomed out — but not just for them — Good News at Rock Bottom ministered to me unlike any other 2025 book I read.”
“For believers living in an age drowning in entertainment but still diminished in wonder, Matthew Capps’s Drawn to Beauty is a course corrective with deep discernment and a keen understanding of Christianity’s theological heritage of aesthetics. This book is as challenging as it is compelling, and it will draw readers into a more resonant faith, one that more gloriously adorns our glorious God.”
“Fred Sanders has long helped the church recover the beauty and centrality of Trinitarian theology, and in Union with Christ and the Life of Faith he offers one of his most pastorally valuable works yet. With precision and warmth, Sanders shows that union with Christ is not a niche doctrine; it is the unshakable foundation of the Christian life. He writes with a rare blend of academic clarity and everyday accessibility, inviting readers to marvel at what it means to belong to Jesus, to participate in His life, and to walk by faith in the power of the Spirit. Every chapter reminds believers that the Christian life is not grounded in self-effort but in the finished work of Christ applied to us. This book strengthens weary saints, steadies young believers, and deepens the roots of any disciple hungry to grow in grace.”
“Joel Beeke’s How to Lead Your Family is a deeply needed word for a cultural moment marked by distraction and drift. Drawing from decades of pastoral ministry and a lifetime of devotional wisdom, Beeke offers a vision of family leadership that is both countercultural and wonderfully ordinary. He refuses to reduce spiritual leadership to technique; instead, he calls parents to a life of repentance, prayer, Scripture, and intentional discipleship. With clarity and gentleness, Beeke shepherds readers toward cultivating a home shaped by grace, where parents model what they teach, where worship becomes a pattern of life, and where children are invited into the rhythms of the Christian life. This book is both convicting and hope-giving, offering practical steps without ever losing sight of the gospel that empowers them. It is a resource every Christian parent, pastor, and church leader should keep close at hand.”
“The second volume of Morales’ commentary on Numbers brings readers into Israel’s wilderness journey with clarity and insight. Morales carefully unpacks the Hebrew text and the book’s structure while highlighting moments of challenge, faithfulness, and God’s guidance that speak directly to life today. His exposition is both thorough and approachable, making this a resource that pastors, students, and everyday readers can use to engage the text thoughtfully and faithfully.”
“This book is the counterpart to Prioritizing the Church in Missions, providing a helpful, much-needed guide for making missions central to your church’s culture. Menikoff and Singh show how practices like preaching, prayer, discipleship, and community can naturally support sending and sustaining missionaries. Grounded in Scripture and pastoral experience, it argues that missions isn’t just a program or parachurch work but should be woven into the heartbeat of every congregation. Whether you are a missionary, pastor, leader, or member, this book offers practical, biblical guidance for aligning your church with God’s heart for the nations.”
“Never has it been easier for the glint and glimmer of this world to steal our gaze from the God who redeemed us. Our natural inclination in fighting this distraction is to try harder, as if doing more will rekindle a heart grown cold. Matthew Bingham reminds us otherwise: only the Holy Spirit, through reading, praying, and pondering the illuminated Word, can set us ablaze from within. This formation from within is critical for the local church as we are “living stones…being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5). A heart kept aflame for God during the week stokes the flames of corporate worship, offering a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”
“Only the hope of heaven is big enough for a world that never will be. Yet we have become masters of drowning our aches and longings for more in vain and unfulfilling distractions. It is with forceful tenderness that Matthew McCullough presses the hope of heaven into our wounded longings and shows that the new creation is the only answer big enough for hearts that were made for eternity. A church that truly remembers heaven will live differently now and preach a gospel that finally feels like Good News.”