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"Victims see this world as their only hope in life. They cling to the hope that the goodness that they are experiencing right now will always be there. They go to Church hoping to worship God in a good enough way as to stay under His radar."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 144.
Living this life thinking that this world is all there is when it comes to hope is such a victim thinking prospect. Nothing in this world is guaranteed - except that we all are guaranteed to leave this world one day. Thinking that the goodness that we can make happen here is enough to make our life count for something is what makes it possible for victim thinking to take over in our lives.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said; "We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope." Hope in this world is such an elusive thing. One moment it is there and the next, it is gone. That's because hope in this world is always based on what we do, on what we see and on the material things this world might be able to provide. When we place all our hope in this world we are doing exactly the opposite of what Dr. King said above.
It is in the eternal that true and lasting hope must come. This world is temporary. This world changes all the time. This world is unpredictable. This world is laced with evil. Temporary, changing, unpredictable, evil - those are words that I believe just can't be used to describe eternity. Why would I ever settle on hope from something that exhibits characteristics that one could label as being temporary, changing, unpredictable or evil? Yet that's exactly what I do when victim thinking drives me to look to this world for hope of proof of my victor status.
Look, I'm not bad mouthing the world. There are some amazing places and amazing people in this world. There are benefits to being able to take my next breath that I'm not too quick to give up on. That's a good thing! But this world was not made so that we could find our footing when it comes to who we are. I believe this world was made to help us see there is something bigger than all we see, all we experience and all we can make happen in our lives.
Hope is such an essential quality for the human species. Without hope, we are doomed to thinking in ways that ultimately become very destructive. So many of the horrific events that have happened in our world have come about as a result of deranged thinking fueled by the feeling that there is no option other than drastic and tragic actions. Death after death has happened as a result of victim thinkers driven to the point of desperation as a result of the feeling that hopelessness is all they have in their lives. Getting to that point is made so much easier when we think this world can provide all the hope we will ever need.
God's word is pretty clear on where our hope is to come from. Check out today's reading with me now.
The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
the Holy One, says this:
“I live in the high and holy place
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts." Isaiah 57:15 (NLT)
One translation ends today's reading with "... so I can restore their confidence and hope." It takes courage to have hope in the eternal. It is so much easier to settle for having hope in what we can see and what we think we can control. That's why so many people look to this world for their hope. Fear can keep us from letting things outside this world provide the hope we so desperately need to live a full life.
Today's reading is clear when it comes to where that comes from. It is God that restores us to the place where we can exercise the courage to have hope outside of the good things we might experience in this world. That's the only kind of hope that I have found that makes it possible for me to feel like a victor when the kinds of hope others settle for in this world fails me.
I believe what we put our hope in is a clear and defining difference between those trying to live this life as a victor and those who are stuck in victim thinking. Those wanting to live this life as the victor they feel they are suppose to be, see hope as an influence that has to come from something much larger than themselves. The world is just too small an object to guarantee the kinds of bigness that is the foundation for victor living kinds of hope.
I entitled today's presentation "Only Hope." The word "only" makes it possible for the title to be viewed two different ways. Only can mean singular. In other words, only hope can mean that there is just one hope that we can trust. That's the kind of hope outlined in today's Bible reading.
The second way the world "only" can be viewed conveys a meaning of last resort. When we say, "I have only one more chance", the word "only" emphasizes the potential desperation resulting from the circumstances that might make one say these words. I believe that's the kind of desperation we need for hope to be part of what makes our life take on the fullness that a victor is to expect. It is when our "only hope" is outside this world that we have the chance to step into that fullness.
Good news is that we don't have to be desperate for that "only hope" to happen. God is ready, willing and able to make that hope a reality. All we have to do is believe what He says about us. Our victor status is guaranteed not because what we might be able to accomplish here in this world. It is guaranteed because of what He has done and who He says we are.
It is my prayer that the kind of hope you experience is an "only hope." It is my desire that your hope in the world be wrecked in such a way that you see there is only one last hope - the hope of eternity. Let the fullness of your life be something this world sees as proof of your victor status as you make hope be the foundation of all you do today.
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