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"I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something about The Church. I believe the reason The Church feels so ineffective in seeing change in our world today is because we have forgotten who we are. We have allowed society to co-opt our identity in such a way that the Heavenly power available to us has been diminished."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 21.
Our identity as God’s Child has been purchased at a great price. The very life of Christ was demanded as ransom for our ability to live as God’s Child, which, makes us the victors we are. Living in that identity is paramount for us to live an effective life. The more we work to add to this basic identity with the underpinnings of roles in our lives, the greater the ability for our identity to be chipped away with the challenges we will face.
Unfortunately, our ability to live out who we are doesn’t guarantee that we will live in that zone of maximum effectiveness. Maximum effectiveness, for the victor, can only happen as we hold loosely what our definition of effectiveness looks like. The more we hold out our expectations of effectiveness, the greater the potential for disappointment to come as we judge how effective our lives are.
Today’s Bible reading gives us some insight in God’s plan for us to live in maximum effectiveness in our walk with Christ.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)
How much do you feel tossed and turned by the circumstances surrounding the roles you play today? Do you feel like you aren’t having impact in the world around you to the extent you would like to? If you are like me there are times you feel totally ineffective and unproductive in having impact. Join the club! Victors and victim thinkers alike feel this way and can be negatively impacted by those feelings. The difference is that victors continually step back to that “safe-harbor” of identity. Living as God’s Child, no matter how crazy the world is treating you, is a place where you can regroup and take a stand against the negativity the world brings your way.
But, don’t stop there. Let God define AND implement what His view of effectiveness is in the world around you. Remember, the victor is probably never going to feel 100% satisfied with how effective his or her life is at any given moment. Expecting God sized things to happen in our lives is just part of the makeup of a Child of the King’s. Where we go wrong with this expectation is when we try and tell God what that expectation is suppose to look like in our lives.
Why not think of effectiveness a different way today? How about letting the fact that your true effectiveness might not be seen until you are face to face with your Heavenly Father. Maybe it’s time to assume (which is an actuality) that you are 100% effective 100% of the time since you carry with you the very image of God Himself. That puts any “failures” at being effective in a totally different light today. You are a “kid of the King”. Go and live completed in that fact today!
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