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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"Our standing before God requires us to walk a fine line with Him. On one hand we aren’t to think so highly of our standing that we take advantage of God and others in our sin. I have seen victimizers do this in ways that have created victims all throughout The Church and society as well. On the other side, we aren’t to think so lowly of ourselves that we reject the Holy Spirit’s promptings about our righteousness before God."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 58.
Identity, or the lack there of, makes us walk a fine line. When we don't know who we are or when we let things of this world dictate the identity we work to portray, victim thinking is waiting for us no matter which side of the line we fall. Living this life is like being a tight rope walker. It doesn't matter which side of the thin line this person falls toward, disaster is always the result.
We walk a fine line between thinking too much of ourselves and thinking too little of ourselves. Not knowing who we are doesn't help us in walking this line out. Just as dangerous as not knowing who we are is living in an identity that we have no business living out in the first place. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the time we all fall in to one of those two scenarios when identity is concerned.
I hope you don't think that means we are hopeless. Well, maybe I do in one sense. We are hopeless if we think our identity is completely up to us to find and live out in this life. God has stacked the deck against us when it comes to this strategy of finding identity in this world.
I'm so glad He has chosen to stack the deck against me in this way. I am literally tired to the bone with trying to make identity work in my life like I have tried for so many years now. It has only been in recent years that I have decided to let what He says about me be all the proof I need to thrive in this world. That has helped me to walk the fine line between thinking too much of myself and thinking too little of who I am in God.
You see life isn't about making big things happen so that I can prove that I am something in this world. Life also isn't about just getting by as circumstances do all they can to dump on my life. Life is all about walking in a power of who I am when things are going well and when things take a turn for the worse. Circumstances can't be controlled to the extent we believe they can. Who we are is something that doesn't have to be swayed by the shifting winds of circumstance like it has in the past for me.
Listen to today's Bible verse as it deals with the stability we can experience as we walk this thin line of life with God.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he. Deuteronomy 32:3-4 (NIV)
He is the rock... His works are perfect... His ways are just... Now that's the kind of stability I need to help me from falling into pride or despair. The good things of life don't come our way because we are deserving. Just as true is the fact that the bad things aren't there because we have fallen short in one way or another. The reality is that this world will do what it will do.
Some of us will succeed in this life in powerful and spectacular ways. Others, with the same intellect, drive and opportunity will fail in just as powerful and spectacular ways. The difference between the victor and the victim thinker has nothing to do with results. The difference will always be found in identity.
The one that succeed might turn out to be one of the biggest victim thinkers you have ever seen. They might find themselves in this position simply because their success didn't rise to the level of impact in their own life to help them deal with the gnawing feeling that they just don't matter. Sure success brings a lot of perks that help us to push those feelings deep down inside of us. The fact remains that money, power, success, position or any of a list of other worldly things will never be enough to make us feel we have arrived when it comes to an identity that makes a difference.
On the flip side, the one that is a worldly failure might be the one that lives out a victor lifestyle unlike anything you have ever seen. It is when we know that we are loved no matter what the score of life turns out to be, that we can experience levels of peace in our soul that just can't be explained. Success isn't the difference when walking that thin life of life. Identity is what makes it possible to make it across that chasm without falling in.
Rest assured, the victor as well as the victim thinker will have ups and downs in this life. Some days we all will feel on top of the world. On others days we will be looking for signs of that truck that seems to have flattened us on the road of life. The difference between victor living and victim thinking comes as we learn how to not let the things of life be what makes a difference in who we are.
As you go about your day, remember God is faithful. He is faithful to make happen all you need today to come into a greater understanding of who you are. Faithfulness has nothing to do with getting the good life you might be seeking from the world today. Faithfulness means that God has said who you are. Let your victor status be all it can be today as you bask in the glory of being a child of the King's.
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