Don't Be a Victim

Victim: a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency.

Not many can escape being a victim, as life is full of hurtful words, disappointments, neglect, rejection, abuse, and even life shattering events. These are a part of living in a fallen creation, and therefore we are all victims of something at some point.  But do we need see ourselves as victims?  Do we need to nurture the victim mentality?  Do we need to remain in the hole in which life buries us? 

I once heard that life was ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to what happens to you.  Dr. Frankyl was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp who said something like this, "They could take away my clothes, cut off all my hair, take away my name and give me a number, but one thing they couldn't take from me was my freedom to choose how I respond."

I love the words that Joseph spoke to his brothers who sold him into slavery when he was a boy.  Genesis 45:5 (NKJV) "But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life."

Joseph went through some deep trials as a result of his brothers' sin against him, but he refused to see himself as a victim.  Instead he saw God's sovereignty all around him, realizing that he was on a divine journey in which God was preparing him to be an instrument of grace and life.  Therefore, instead of living like a victim, he lived by faith and obedience to God. 

So are you fearful, angry, or bitter?  Are you a quitter?  Do you avoid challenges and difficulties even though they may be good for you?  Do you constantly take the easy way out?  In other words, are you living your life as a victim?  Or do you believe God has you on a journey, using challenges and difficult things to prepare you to be an instrument of grace and life?  I challenge you to believe the latter and step out of the shadows of fear and mediocrity, and dare to obey God and live by faith.