Day 83 - Victimizing Effect of Formulas

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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"...formulas often fuel our ability to let victim thinking rule in our lives."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 219.

Oh how I love a good formula. I can't tell you the number of engineering classes I remember where a particular formula was presented that just made perfect sense. There was such a sweet feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment to the fact that I had learned something absolute. There is just something comforting about a black and white formula in a grey world.

Our natural world doesn't operate under the control of formulas quite the way the scientific world does. Though we try and try to make a particularly good result happen in our lives by repeating steps we hope will take us back there again, more often than not formulas just can't be relied on when things we want to feel good about ourselves are concerned.

How many times have you tried to think about what you did or what you said to make a certain situation turn out in the favorable way it did in the past? If you are like me it is a real hit or miss prospect as to whether that event turned out as well as it did before. It is when my repeated attempts at orchestrating a good outcome doesn't make things happen the way I want them to that victim thinking can really take hold. Formulas play right into that statement in ways that down right surprise me at times.

It isn't that formulas are bad. They aren't! It is my believe that if I live a certain way, if I act a certain way, if I perform up to a certain level then everything will work the way I want it to that ushers in those kinds of feelings that make victim thinking a real possibility. This is particularly the case when I try and develop formulas to make things happen I need to happen to support a particular view of my identity I want others to believe.

I have said this before and I will need to say it again and again, anything that I rely on that I believe is under my control when it comes to what shapes my identity is something that is eventually going to let me down in victim thinking ways. This is the case when I believe that I can create formulas surrounding circumstances that I find particularly critical to my identity.

Check out today's Bible reading and see what it says about relying on things we think we can control to help define our identities.

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV)

Something happened to Paul that made him feel like he was tried and convicted of a capital offense. I have to tell you that that is how I can feel when formulas for good outcomes in my life have failed me from time to time. It feels like I was put on the firing line and I heard the shots ring out. Not much is more devastating than doing things that seemed to work well in the past only to have them blow up in your face somewhere down the road.

I love what our reading says today, "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves..." Such a good reminder that, when it comes to identity, we can only rely on God to tell us the truth about who we are. This is so important when the world does its best to speak against our identity in victimizing ways. Relying on self when identity is concerned is akin to a death sentence.

Life is found when we do all we can to simply believe we are who God says we are. We can't create a formula to make all our circumstances work to prove this identity. That's just not in the cards. It is when we just believe that we are God's Child that victor living is a real possibility. Choosing to ignore what God says about us and work to create our own identity though our carefully planned out actions is where victim thinking loves to reside.

Look, you will be in many, many situations today where formulas will work perfectly well. All I'm saying is that trying to make formulas work consistently when it comes to our identity is not a strategy that can be absolutely relied upon. Make your day today as full as it can be by letting your identity rest secure in who God says you are. Use formulas to help make your circumstances be as successful as you can make them. In this process, please don't tie the results of applying your formulas to your situations to your identity. It is what God says you are that makes you a victor, not how well you do at making your circumstances turn out the way you would like them to today.