Overcoming A Victim Mentality (3)
Wednesday February 4, 2015
People with a victim mentality often confuse love with pity or rescue. They think good things only happen to others. They feel anxious and overly sensitive. Can God make a way for them to have a satisfying and meaningful life? Yes!
Jesus suffered and died on the cross to take away our sin and enable us to have life with God forever – a life that is full and satisfying. Jesus dealt with all sin and injustice on the cross. Jesus assumed all the evil and victimization of sin and injustice so you and I could go free. Jesus became a victim so we no longer have to live as one. His death in our place covers sins done by us and injustices done to us
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV)
What Jesus has done for us is good news. However, it is very challenging for a person who has spent years living with a victim mentality to move into the experience of being an overcomer. Why? We’ve become familiar with a lifestyle of not taking the initiative for ourselves and wanting someone else to “do it for us.” Under our conscious fear of rejection is often an unconscious layer of anger, not just against the abuser, but also against those who “should have” protected us and did not. It seems impossible to us that we could face our fears and take responsibility for our actions while living in the overcoming love of God. And yet, that’s God’s way.
Today God invites us to turn from the sin of blaming others and receive healing for the resentments we’ve held. God wants to release us from the bondage of a victim mentality and help us grieve painful losses. As we bring our troubles to God for His help and healing He will take hold of our right hand and say, “Do not fear; I will help you”. (Isaiah 41:13 NIV) God wants us to turn from protecting ourselves at all costs to learning from Him how to live with realistic expectations and safe boundaries in healthy loving relationships. How will we respond to God’s invitation today?
©2015 Partners in Hope
More information on this and other related topics @ www.partnersinhope.ca/resources
Audio for Overcoming A Victim Mentality (3)
Recent Meditations
Giving Hope
Partners in Hope is supported wholly by our friends and community. We are thankful to everyone who partners with us to help bring hope to the discouraged, hurting, and hopeless.