**********
"When it looks like God isn’t providing how and when we want, victim thinking is quick to take hold in our lives."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 88.
Have you ever been in a place where what you need just doesn't seem to be coming your way? That's a terrible place for anyone of us to be. That situation can leave us thinking that we are alone and not worthy of having even the basic desires of our lives met by those around us and by God Himself. It is when the provisions needed in our life seem to be missing in action that victim thinking can really take hold.
When what we need, what we are praying for the most in our lives doesn't show up how we think it should or in the timing we need it to is when doubts can creep into our lives. Doubts about who we are. Doubts about our capabilities. Doubts about our value and worth. Doubts that makes it possible for victim thinking to enter into our lives in ways that make it hard to ever believe that we will be victors in any way at all.
It is such a sad fact that provision can be such a victim thinking proposition when provision is an issue in our lives. We tend to tie our identities to our ability to provide for ourselves and our family in ways that God never intended it to be. And, who can blame us for connecting identity to provision. It is so easy to feel good about who we are when things are going our way. The opposite is just as true. It is so easy to feel bad about our identities when circumstances aren't working out the way we planned.
It is times like this when I am so glad to be part of a relationship with God that includes Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus was just as much a human being as you and as me. He too had these same kinds of thoughts and feelings. Victim thinking was just as much a possibility for Jesus as it is for anyone of us alive today. I hope that statement doesn't offend you - I'm absolutely positive it doesn't offend Jesus. How can I be so sure of that fact? The Bible backs me up on how human Jesus was. Check out today's Bible reading with me.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Philippians 2:7-8 (MSG)
Jesus humbled Himself. He took on the status of a slave - a powerful description of being human. Jesus gave up the special privileges that came with being God's son so that He could relate to you and to me in ways that only come with living life like we do. His act was a selfless and obedient act of love for the Father and for us.
By becoming human, Jesus understands the trails and tribulations we face in ways no other heavenly being can possibly understand. Until you have walked in the shoes of another you really can't understand the challenges they face. That's what amazes me so about the God of Christianity. His ability to understand and to relate to His creation is unlike any other religion I have ever seen. That ability to understand brings a connection that makes relationship with this God something unlike anything else in all creation.
I love the first line of our reading today. "Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus though of himself." Now there's a strategy for victor living if I have ever seen one. It is when we think of ourselves like Jesus that we have the ability to fight off victim thinking when things aren't going our way. Look at our reading for how Jesus thought of himself.
"He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what." Jesus was and is equal to God the Father. They are one in the same. Yet, when Jesus became man he laid down this lofty status so that He could relate to you and to me. He didn't insist on getting His way the way a King has every right to do. Even when things went wrong for Jesus he refused to cling to the benefits of His status the way I know I would do if I were in that same position.
The fact is that we are just like Jesus. We are heirs to the Kingdom of God. That fact affords us every right to demand all the benefit that position grants us. Our job is to be like Jesus in every way. He never demanded His rights to the Kingdom like he could have when he was here on earth. That's not why He was here. Though He could have done all He could to make His comfort assured, He stuck to the plan God had for Him and our future is secured as a result.
Maybe the fact that provision has been slow in coming is part of a plan in your life that is bigger than just your situation. Maybe the fact that you are just like Jesus is a fact that is being played out on a cosmic scale that makes the temporary problems you are facing right now nothing in comparison. I have to believe that every action, every ache and pain, every victory and every loss has a significance beyond what I might be able to comprehend.
If we are to think of ourselves like Jesus, then I think we are to expect the same possibilities for hardship that Jesus faced. It is in times of desperation that the world sees our God in a light that makes them choose for themselves what they are going to do with the possibility of a relationship with this God. Though we have every right to demand all we can get from this world, maybe we are to be more like Jesus and demand a closeness to God instead.
I know how hard it is to live in a place where provision is hard to come by. This is made so much more difficult by the fact that it seems that we have rights from Heaven that make it so we should never have to be in want. I also know that if I want to live like the victor God has made possible for me, then I have to be a lot like Jesus more in my life. Victor living can only come when I surrender my rights to everything in view of my relationship with God like Jesus modeled so completely for us all.
As you face challenges in provision today, be like Jesus. Turn to the Father and ask. Ask for His closeness. Ask for His presence. Ask for His prospective. Ask for His provision. Then let what God provides be exactly enough for you, a Child of the King.
No comments:
Post a Comment