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"Victor thinking goes a long way in how we deal with the challenges life tosses at us. I’m in no way saying that victor thinking guarantees financial success. There is nothing in this world that can make that kind of connection no matter how much we want it to happen."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 105.
Attitude can play such a powerful role in how we react to the challenges that come our way. It is when we come to a place of acceptance that our attitudes can come into line with the way we want to live out our lives.
By acceptance, I don't mean being OK with where we are at any given moment. When bad times hit, why in the world would I ever be OK with that. What I mean by acceptance is getting to a place where we can view life and, the challenges that come our way, with a perspective that gives us the best chance to weather our storms with as much grace and power as possible.
There is a big difference between the way victors accept life and how victim thinkers approach the issue of acceptance. The victor knows who they are and are quick to let the fact that whatever is happening to them has absolutely nothing to do with who they are. Though they may not like the circumstances they are facing, the victor comes to a place of acceptance when it comes to their identity. They are who God says they are no matter what the world brings to their doorstep. Acceptance that has power in the life of a victor comes when the victor accepts who they are no matter what their life looks like at any given moment.
Victim thinkers look at acceptance in a totally different light. When bad times hit, they are quick to accept the fact that the things that happen to them are but another example of the world telling them that they just don't measure up. That attitude spills over into all their relationships in damaging and victim making ways. Connections with loved ones, even their connection with God is impacted by the fact that the victim thinker measures their identity by the results of what they do. Good results allow the victim thinker to accept that their identity is something that the world sees as good. Bad results lets the victim thinker accept that the world must be punishing them for doing something wrong.
Truth is that we all, victors and victim thinkers alike, are looking for the golden ticket when it comes to life. We all want a formula that says, if I do this then my good life will be guaranteed. At times we even believe that we have found that ticket. When that happens we work it for all it is worth and let our identity concerns take a back seat to the pleasure of living a good life.
Unfortunately, that ride just doesn't last forever. Even the most golden of golden ticket tarnishes as life takes the kinds of twists and turns victors and victim thinkers will have to endure. Victors, like victim thinkers have a choice when life turns in directions we didn't expect. We can either choose to accept who God says we are or we can let this life dictate our view on who we are.
The Bible is an amazing book when it comes to identity and acceptance. The Bible is broken down into two major sections. There is the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is about 2/3 of the Bible. It contains 39 "books" while the remaining 1/3 of the Bible has 27 "books". I often wondered why the Bible was broken down this way. Based on my thinking about victor living vs victim thinking, I think I have a theory that might point out why the Old Testament is much larger than the New.
The Old Testament is God's explanation and Israel's attempt at living out what God requires to make relationship with Him possible. The Old Testament is filled with rules and regulations. It is also filled with example after example of the people's failure to be able to follow those rules and regulations. What also fills the pages of the Old Testament is God's response to the people's failure at trying to keep the rules - wrath, destruction, rejection and suffering. Not a pretty picture of relationship if you ask me.
The Old Testament is God's way of showing us the futility of relying on our efforts to get to Him. We just can't consistently do what is required to reach out for relationship with this God of ours. Perfection is required and we are a species that is lousy at perfection. God knew that and give us ways to overcome those lousy tendencies, but even our ability to do what it takes to get us back in good graces falls short when people are given the chance to do it on their own.
The New Testament shows us that there is a different way when it comes to who we are. This part of the Bible tells the story of a God that wants relationship with us so badly that He reaches out to us to make the way. Instead of letting us kill ourselves trying to get to Him, knowing that we will fail, He comes to us and gives us what is impossible to earn. It takes more stories, more pages, more books to get us convinced that we can't do it on our own than it does to explain the plan of God doing it for us. That's why I think the Bible is broken down like it is. We need as much ammunition as possible to get us to stop trying to find our lives through our own efforts than we need to just accept who God says we are.
Sad thing is is that it is our nature to try and do it all on our own. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me in the light of accepting who we are in God's eyes.
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7 (NASB)
This verse is from the Old Testament. It clearly connects our doing to how we will feel about ourselves. God isn't telling an untruth. He isn't trying to mislead us. He is clearly pointing out the reality of human nature. If we do well we will feel good about ourselves. It is when we take this truth and try to make it a defining part of who we are in this God's eyes that trouble begins. When we tie identity to anything we do we find it hard to accept our victor status when things don't turn out the way we want them to. Old Testament living is man's attempt at reconciling their imperfect life with a perfect God. The New Testament is all about us accepting that imperfection has nothing to do with who God sees us to be.
Yet try we will to do all we can to prove who we are before those important relationships in our lives, including the relationship we want with our God. It is when the victim thinker accepts that God thinks the world of him or her no matter what their lives look like that victor living begins to happen.
Isn't it time to just accept who God says you are? It is through the power of victor living that the relational desires of this God will happen to those of us He calls His Child. Let today be the kind of day where circumstance doesn't define who you are. Believe in your status as a victor and watch how God works through that status in all you do today.
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