Thoughts
that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking
Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to
the audio file.
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"We want to be known so that we might have a shot at knowing ourselves. Again, it is all about identity. We deeply want to know who we are and to be accepted in that knowledge."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 72.
I'm blown away at how much of life is spent searching to try to determine who we are? Think about your teenage years. Wasn't much of the trouble that you got into a direct result of your attempts to discover your identity and try to fit in? How about that mini -midlife crisis you went through not too long ago. Wasn't that just a last ditch grab at identity during that time of your life? What about when you got married, or had your first baby, or mourned the loss of your first parent, or when you sent your first child to college, or when you finally left the work force... Were not these and countless other situations in your life identity challenging times?
I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb by saying that much of what we do, many of the life challenging circumstances we endure have their roots in the questions surrounding who we are. It seems like just as we start to feel comfortable with our current life situation, and therefore, our identity something comes into our life that makes us doubt who we are. Unfortunately when we are placed in situations where it is easy to doubt our identity victim thinking is not far behind.
In the book of Genesis the creation story says a lot about who we are. Take a look at today's reading...
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. Genesis 1:26-27 (MSG)
I believe we get so confused when it comes to impunity as life circumstances change because we don't know and/or believe the foundation for who we are. In our reading today, that says nothing about our life circumstance, our vocation or our ability to interpret these things when it comes to our identity. The foundation for our identity is God himself. He made us in his image, we reflect his very nature!
It is when we rely on things of this world, the temporal things, as the foundation for our identity that we get confused and victim thinking can become a significant part of our lives. It isn't that god doesn't want us to benefit emotionally from the things we do and the circumstances in our life. The reality is God never intended for anything in this life to be proof of who we are. That's a lesson that we all seem to struggle to hang onto when circumstances in this life come at us in ways that challenge our identity.
How do you feel about the questions that surround your identity today? I guarantee that if you are feeling good about who you are right now because of how well your life is going at the moment victim thinking isn't far way. How can I be so sure of that? Because circumstances change all the time and changing circumstances challenge the way we think about who we are.
As you are faced with issues that might conflict with your feeling about who you are today why not lean on a foundation of identity that can't be changed with circumstance. When the questions arise surrounding who you are remember this, your identity is firmly grounded in the image of God. As strange as it may sound you actually reflect the very nature of the one who created you. Now that's a foundation you can trust! Build from that foundation today and watch how confident you will be in the victor God made you to be.
**********
"We want to be known so that we might have a shot at knowing ourselves. Again, it is all about identity. We deeply want to know who we are and to be accepted in that knowledge."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 72.
I'm blown away at how much of life is spent searching to try to determine who we are? Think about your teenage years. Wasn't much of the trouble that you got into a direct result of your attempts to discover your identity and try to fit in? How about that mini -midlife crisis you went through not too long ago. Wasn't that just a last ditch grab at identity during that time of your life? What about when you got married, or had your first baby, or mourned the loss of your first parent, or when you sent your first child to college, or when you finally left the work force... Were not these and countless other situations in your life identity challenging times?
I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb by saying that much of what we do, many of the life challenging circumstances we endure have their roots in the questions surrounding who we are. It seems like just as we start to feel comfortable with our current life situation, and therefore, our identity something comes into our life that makes us doubt who we are. Unfortunately when we are placed in situations where it is easy to doubt our identity victim thinking is not far behind.
In the book of Genesis the creation story says a lot about who we are. Take a look at today's reading...
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. Genesis 1:26-27 (MSG)
I believe we get so confused when it comes to impunity as life circumstances change because we don't know and/or believe the foundation for who we are. In our reading today, that says nothing about our life circumstance, our vocation or our ability to interpret these things when it comes to our identity. The foundation for our identity is God himself. He made us in his image, we reflect his very nature!
It is when we rely on things of this world, the temporal things, as the foundation for our identity that we get confused and victim thinking can become a significant part of our lives. It isn't that god doesn't want us to benefit emotionally from the things we do and the circumstances in our life. The reality is God never intended for anything in this life to be proof of who we are. That's a lesson that we all seem to struggle to hang onto when circumstances in this life come at us in ways that challenge our identity.
How do you feel about the questions that surround your identity today? I guarantee that if you are feeling good about who you are right now because of how well your life is going at the moment victim thinking isn't far way. How can I be so sure of that? Because circumstances change all the time and changing circumstances challenge the way we think about who we are.
As you are faced with issues that might conflict with your feeling about who you are today why not lean on a foundation of identity that can't be changed with circumstance. When the questions arise surrounding who you are remember this, your identity is firmly grounded in the image of God. As strange as it may sound you actually reflect the very nature of the one who created you. Now that's a foundation you can trust! Build from that foundation today and watch how confident you will be in the victor God made you to be.
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