"DON'T be a Victim" Sonja

That was one of my mother's favorite phrases... and we loathed hearing it. She had zero tolerance for excuses and us feeling sorry for ourselves. I have to say it might have been a little too rigid, but it did teach us a lot.

The other day I had a lengthy conversation with someone. It took me hours after to process it. One word came to mind "victim". Now we all have real pain, real hurt, real anger, real offenses, and real situations. Life brings all of these. And all of us can fall into a victim role from time to time. I have done it and I am sure you have too. There is a difference between having times of selfishness and living a self-centered life. You see, a victim has to be very near sighted because he can't see past himself. A victim maximizes what others have done to him and minimizes what he has done to others. A victim denies, separates and distances himself from his own offences. A victim blames others - blames others for what has been done to him and what he has done to others.

Can you just imagine if Jesus had been a victim going to the cross? If he cried and moaned about it everyday? If he said look what these people have done to me - just wipe them all out?

"Humbly You came to this earth You created, all for loves sake became poor. Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you're my God. You're altogether lovely, You're all together worthy, You're all together wonderful to me. I'll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon that cross..." I think that's how the song goes.

God is the opposite of a victim. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us but never played the victim. I was thinking about what characteristics make up a victim and what is the opposite. God is selfless, a victim is selfish. God is humble, a victim is arrogant. God's view/ world is limitless and broad, a victim's view is narrow and small. Have you ever noticed when you cling to being a victim, your world becomes very small? You cannot grow or expand because all of your energy is spent on feeling bad or sorry for yourself.

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all have the potential to get swallowed by what we have done to others and what others have done to us. A lesson I have to learn minutely - it's so great to lose your life so you can gain it and truly live. When you hold onto these things, you cannot truly live. It's so great to know that I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives within me. It's so great to have the mind of Christ. Why?

When I was speaking to this person, I was thinking to myself, after all you (that person) have done to others, how can you play the victim? Then I realized. We weren't designed to carry the weight of our own guilt. We weren't designed to carry the burden of the hurt others have caused us. These things were allowed to draw us closer to God. Being closer to God is what we were designed for. If we choose to walk the other way (which we all do at times), our self defense turns to selfishness, arrogance, blame... and the depths of our wickedness grows deeper. Thank God we have a provision. Thank You Jesus for not only dying for all of our sins - past, present and future and the sins of others who have offended us but You also removed them as far as the east is from the west.