If anyone should have felt like a victim for his faith, it was the Apostle Paul. Beaten times without number, shipwrecked, imprisoned countless times and abandoned by close friends. Yet, Paul had a victory lens that he stared life through. Paul said, “The Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But, none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy.” (Acts 20:23-24, NKJV).
Paul is no victim! He has a victory mindset; a victory lens that he is viewing his life through. We live in a unique time in American history. For the first time in our 250 years of existence, a victim mentality has taken over our country.
Peggy Noonan, in a recent Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal wrote, “We have been swept by social, technological and cultural revolution…The old longing for integration gave way to a culture of accusation—you are a supremacist, a misogynist, you are guilty of privilege and defined by your color and class, we don’t let your sort speak here.”
It even has an academic name, Victimology. The dictionary defines it as, “the possession of an outlook, arising from real or imagined victimization, that seems to glorify and indulge the state of being a victim.”
Paul would have nothing to do with such a perspective, and neither should we. Most of us have been deeply hurt, betrayed and shamed. Paul has had a breakthrough into joy through a radical outlook at his circumstances! Do you desire a breakthrough of joy in 2018? I do.
Take the case of Scott Hamilton, the legend in figure skating. In the past 21 years he has faced Stage 4 testicular cancer, followed by three brain tumors — one every six years since 2004. He’s living with a brain tumor right now. Recently he said he would never forget what his wife, Tracie, said to him during a pep talk, “Joy is not the lack of suffering or fear, it’s how you choose to handle the suffering and fear.” It finally hit him that it was true. So, when the tumor returned for an encore in 2016, Hamilton decided to react differently. There was no, “why me?” anymore. “I figured I needed to go through this with joy.” he said. “It was just a muscle I needed to build, like the muscles I built skating.”
Which lens will you choose this year?
Choosing a victory lens,
Steve
Steve Holt D.D. MA
www.steveholtonline.org
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