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"I believe that victim thinking can happen when we work hard to become qualified only to find that the qualification we worked so hard to acquire doesn’t guarantee the level of prosperity our worldly identities crave so completely."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 116.
It is so frustrating to work hard at becoming qualified at something only to find that, that qualification doesn't do what we thought it would when it comes to who we want the world to see us as. Identity based on qualification just can't do what we need, on a consistent basis, to keep victim thinking at bay. We just can't do enough to make who we want to be seen as happen in a way that our souls find completely satisfying. That fact makes it so hard to live like the victor we were made to be.
Those prone to victim thinking hold on to the belief that the answer to their identity issues can be found in that next thing they are drawn to be involved in. For some, it is the next degree. For others, it is that next job. Still others think that next child will make everything right. All those nexts in life do little but use time and resources in ways that don't do what we want them to. There is a better way.
Unfortunately, the essence of that better way comes with a word we have been conditioned to hate. To stop the treadmill we all have found ourselves on we have to choose surrender. It is when we give up trying to do so much in order to be what God says we are that victor living can really happen. Why do we hate the word surrender? I think it has to do with the fact that humans need to be in control.
In many ways, surrender and control are polar opposites. It is so easy to turn to things we think we can control when seeking an identity that works in this world. That's why we fall for the trick of thinking that more and more qualification will set us up to be where we want to be. It is an exercise in control to turn to qualification in order to establish identity. Whether it be a degree, a trade, a kid, another job, these and just about everything else we do is filled with opportunity to exhibit our control.
I think that is why turning to God is so hard to do for so many of us at times. God can't be controlled. He can't be manipulated to give us what we want. What He gives is all we get. That's such a discouraging fact to those stuck in that place of trying to be more by doing more. For the victor, the fact that God can't be changed is such a comforting and freeing reality.
I have spent so much of my life trying to put into place plans I have thought would make me feel like the victor I know I am deep down inside. Control becomes a desperate strategy as we look to victory to prove our status as a victor. The less victory we experience the harder we work to get ourselves in a place of qualification that might make more victory come our way. God sees things so differently. Check out what our Bible reading says on the subject of qualification and identity.
You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. John 15:16 (MSG)
God has chosen each and every one of us. He didn't pick us because we are qualified. He picked us because He loves us. We don't have to get ready for the purpose He has made for our lives. He chose us because we can't get prepared enough to be all He knows us to be. It is when we surrender to the fact that we have been chosen to be victors that working for victory starts to take a back seat in our lives.
This doesn't mean that we won't have dreams for more in our lives. We aren't to walk around this life settling for second best. He wants us to be fully engaged in the process of changing this world. It is when we expect that change to be something that bolsters who we are that victim thinking gets us off track.
What God is trying to get us to realize is that our circumstances have nothing to do with who we are. The challenging times you may be facing right now might make you feel purposeless and floundering. Those feelings make it so easy to believe that our identities are falling short. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even in the challenging times you are bearing fruit in world changing ways. You can't help but to do so because, according to our reading today, you were chosen by Him to bear that fruit. It is when we think that it is up to us to do all we can to be who we want to be that control shoves God out of our lives.
God and control just can't occupy the same space. Isn't it time to surrender to the fact that God has chosen you? He has made you His child. That makes you more of a victor than all the victories you might be tempted to try and make happen will ever be able to prove your victor status. Surrender to who God says you are. Let His calling be what makes your day filled with example after example of the fruit you have been called to make happen in the world around you.
You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. John 15:16 (MSG)
God has chosen each and every one of us. He didn't pick us because we are qualified. He picked us because He loves us. We don't have to get ready for the purpose He has made for our lives. He chose us because we can't get prepared enough to be all He knows us to be. It is when we surrender to the fact that we have been chosen to be victors that working for victory starts to take a back seat in our lives.
This doesn't mean that we won't have dreams for more in our lives. We aren't to walk around this life settling for second best. He wants us to be fully engaged in the process of changing this world. It is when we expect that change to be something that bolsters who we are that victim thinking gets us off track.
What God is trying to get us to realize is that our circumstances have nothing to do with who we are. The challenging times you may be facing right now might make you feel purposeless and floundering. Those feelings make it so easy to believe that our identities are falling short. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even in the challenging times you are bearing fruit in world changing ways. You can't help but to do so because, according to our reading today, you were chosen by Him to bear that fruit. It is when we think that it is up to us to do all we can to be who we want to be that control shoves God out of our lives.
God and control just can't occupy the same space. Isn't it time to surrender to the fact that God has chosen you? He has made you His child. That makes you more of a victor than all the victories you might be tempted to try and make happen will ever be able to prove your victor status. Surrender to who God says you are. Let His calling be what makes your day filled with example after example of the fruit you have been called to make happen in the world around you.
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