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"'Get to' living isn’t an automatic way of life. It is a learned thing. We have to learn to change our thinking. This happens as we change our words. As you find yourself saying or feeling you 'have to' do something, change the words. Become a 'get to' kind of thinker."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 183.
Look, I don't for a minute think that changing one little word will solve all our victim thinking problems. Changing the word "have" to "get" isn't a panacea. What I have seen happening in my life is that as I begin to live in the place where obligation doesn't rule my life, I think I'm in a better place where victor living can be the result.
When it comes to God's view of who we are, I think I'm on a pretty good foundation with this line of thinking. Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever— Psalm 49:7-8 (NASB)
Often we feel obligated because we think we owe someone something. If you have a mortgage on your house, you "have to" pay that mortgage or you will lose your home. It is when we view tasks through the lens of obligation, that our souls get really confused. I have said it before, but our souls hate obligation. They were created to be free and obligation brings a level of bondage that our souls fight against.
This is particularly the case when it comes to who God says we are. Living in a place of obligation as far as God is concerned, is a total waste of time. Our reading confirms that fact. I really like the last line of our verse today. It says that we should stop trying to live in this place of obligation forever! It is when we do things in our lives out of the feeling that we owe God something that we might be able to repay that our souls get bound up in ways God simply hates.
If we are doing anything for God that can be labeled "have to" we should really stop doing that thing. God doesn't need us to do anything for Him. He is completely capable of getting done all He wants to do in our world. Taking His Word and turning what it says into "have to" obligations is nothing short of insulting to this God that made us.
If thinking that we can do things for God that He can't do for Himself wasn't bad enough, using words like "have to" when we are working to repay God for all He has done for us is ever so foolish. How could we ever repay God for even the slightest thing He has done for us? Thinking that we "have to" serve this God as a payment for our salvation is a strategy that threatens to get us stuck in victim thinking ways.
God didn't offer up His son with the hopes that we might be able to repay Him someday. He didn't pay the high price required to bring us into His family in order to enlist hired hands to get done all He has planned. "Have to" living puts us in a place where obligation turns our relationship with God in such a strange and unproductive characteristic of life. Getting out of the habit of viewing live through the words of "have to" takes concerted effort and focus. Making that change from "have to" to "get to" is what makes victor living something that can be more of a reality in our lives.
Changing "have to" to "get to" isn't going to solve all your problems. It will, however, get you to a place where victor living will be more in reach. As we do all we can to get obligation our of our way of thinking, our souls wake up to the possibility that, even in the bad times, God's plan and purpose might just be at work in our lives. The soul thrives when it thinks freedom is a possibility, even if that freedom comes with God's presence during the challenging times that we will face from time to time.
I pray that all you do today, all that comes across your path will be a "get to" opportunity rather than a "have to" obligation. Live in that place where you know God is for you even when the chips are down. It is there where the victor in you comes alive.
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