Day 65 - Freedom

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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“As we begin to take the cost of our freedoms for granted, any perceived or actual limitations to what we want to do is seen as a personal assault resulting in victimhood. “

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 9.

Oh how easy it is to forget that freedom isn’t free - freedom always comes at a price. The fact that the cost of freedom isn’t always paid by each individual makes it so easy to let victim thinking take over when we forget that there was a cost that someone had to pay for the freedom you enjoy today.

Taking freedom for granted can put us in a place where we think we are the center of the universe, thereby making it so easy for us to find offense at every turn. Our growing dependence on victimization in our Victim Based Society is a result of this fact happening right before our eyes.

Sadly, this isn’t a new occurrence. I believe that the entire history of mankind has been filled with victim thinking that has resulted from taking our freedoms (or good life)  for granted. Check out today’s Bible verse below;

When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. Hosea 13:6 (NIV)

Look at the pattern that results in victim thinking. When we are in a place where we have great needs and those needs are met we find ourselves filled with a sense of satisfaction. At first, that satisfaction is tempered with thanksgiving. Going from starving to death to having a full belly will bring you to a place of gratefulness in an instant. But stay too long in that place of satisfaction and pride results.

Pride always points to self. When we are filled with pride we begin to believe that feeling of satisfaction is a “right” and anything that might come against that right becomes a terrible offense. Offense brings us to victimization and, if we stay there for too long, victim thinking is the result.

What today’s verse really points out is that when we are satisfied and are in a place of pride, we then forget the provider of that satisfaction in the first place. That’s what happens when we take freedom for granted. We forget the great cost someone had to pay for that freedom in the first place. When freedom is cheap, we are much more likely to think we deserve that freedom and are victimized at every turn when we believe that freedom might be challenged in any way.

Victors work hard to live in freedom without letting pride control their lives. They realize that when pride comes in we all are in danger of going to a place where victim thinking can take control. It’s not that victors are immune to pride, it is that they just know that pride brings them to a place where the power of victor living can be forfeited in an instant.


Today you have a choice. You can either be satisfied and risk pride to usher in victim thinking or you can choose to live like a victor and live out your day in a place of thanksgiving. Be thankful for the freedom you have every moment you can today. That spirit of thanksgiving is what fights back the “hounds of hell” trying to bring the darkness of taking your freedom for granted. The more you cherish your freedom, and the cost of that freedom, the more you will live like a victor no matter what the circumstances of life look like today.