BECOMING VICTIMS OF A VICTIM MENTALITY

Romans 8:37

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

                This past week I was introduced to a podcast by Michael Ramsden, the new president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministry, on the subject of having a victim mentality. He made a compelling case that we have become a victim-based society. To claim that you are a victim automatically places you in the right and in the position of power. Anyone who disagrees with you is being hateful and becomes your enemy. Taking the position of victim excuses you from any responsibility for your actions and places blame on others. It is a very tempting and enticing position to take. We can see this victim mentality being played out daily in our country today.

                There is a big difference between being a victim of some injustice and living as a victim. There are many people who have been genuine victims and yet have chosen to become overcomers. There are just as many who choose to remain victims and even enhance their position. The difference is the approach that a person takes.

                There are many Christians today in America who have embraced a victim mentality. They believe that the Church is being unjustly persecuted and that they are being abused. They quickly cry foul and demand that the society go back to the way things were when Christianity was more than just tolerated.  Yet if we look at the broader picture, at a world where the Church is facing real, open, and often deadly persecution, what we see for the most part are overcomers, not victims. Believers around the world are finding their strength in Christ and not in playing the victim card.

                The Apostle Paul is a prime example of an overcomer. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul chronicles the abuses that he suffered, yet he refused to play the role of a victim. Instead, he chose to trust in the Lord and persevere for God’s glory. He summarized his attitude in 2 Corinthians 4.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

    But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

                Jesus warned us that if we followed Him, we would be at odds with the world. We should not be surprised when we face opposition from those who do not follow Jesus. Our hope and our security are in Christ and not in any world system. We want justice for all. We need to work to counter injustice in all of its forms. But we have been called to be overcomers, not victims.

Romans 8:31-39

    What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

    "For your sake we face death all day long;

        we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                The victim mentality is enticing, but in reality, it corrodes our soul. It fills us with bitterness and anger. The better path is to embrace the reality that, no matter what we face in life, we are victors through Christ. In our fallen world there will always be injustice, but we also don’t have to be consumed by it. Instead, we can stand with Paul and millions of others who have chosen to be more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.