Victim or Victorious? Life’s most pressing choice

Of all my nearly 60 years on the planet, living this life, the most important practical thing I know is the concept of CHOICE.

Agency is another word we could use. The agency or choice of going the right way. The right way is often harder but easier in the longer run.

Our response to the things that happen to us in this life.

The. Most. Important. Thing.

Being Christian, a pastor, a chaplain, other Christians will say, well, what about your faith, Jesus, God your Saviour—isn’t THAT the most important thing?

Faith does us and others no good if we
continue to choose to NOT follow it.

Faith says, “There is only one good way to respond to life’s injustices. Have faith. Respond well. Own what is yours to own. Repent as and when needed. Keep doing good. Let go of what you can’t control.”

One way of interpreting Galatians 6:9 is, “Let us resist despair and keep doing good, for at the right time we will achieve our goal if we don’t give up.”

Easier said than done? Of course!
But, doable… and most of all, it’s n e c e s s a r y... to succeed.

I know from raw hardship and pure hell that at times life can crush the choice out of us, but one thing we can’t deny is we must still respond well. We MUST find a way to defy the logic that says, “I’m doing things my way.” “My way” is almost always the selfish and foolish way.

We all face a battle with our attitude, the tussle of flesh versus spirit, good versus bad, and the temptation to get back or get even, taking the law into our own hands.

The good always serves us in the long haul and we know it,
but it doesn’t usually FEEL good.

The choices we make otherwise to take control of situations we don’t have control of always leads to poor choices that inevitably have consequences.

None of us can afford the folly of playing the victim. We must choose to respond as a victor to become the eventual victor. 

Being the victim makes life miserable.
Being victorious of attitude brings hope. 

Will we operate out of the victim and give ourselves over to self-sabotage? Will we continue to blame others and suffer the consequence of throwing away our only power; to change ourselves? 

Or will we choose to respond as if we are already victorious? Because inevitably that response does lead to victory.

Victory over temptation in the short term.
Victory of a legacy that serves us
and others in the longer term. 

The victorious life is one good decision leading to another, in series with more good decisions, that leads ultimately to victory.

When life turns south, we are all tempted to wallow in the role of victim. It’s the default. To have the insight to turn victim into victorious, that is courage, faith, strength, selflessness, wisdom, all rolled into one. Simply because we had the humility to be honest.

The truth sets us free (John 8:32).

Freedom’s peace is in the last place we look

Just about everyone fights to achieve peace.  Ironically, we all tend to go about it the wrong way.  The tension arises in our insistence that we have it our way when life doesn’t work like that.

My favourite work is probably spending time with individuals broken by their life circumstances.  It usually corresponds with their rock bottom.  

It reminds me acutely of my own rock bottom in 2003—a rock bottom that lasted a year or more because of my life circumstances at the time.  Endurance was and is the lesson.  Having believed it would take place—I would not have made it if I didn’t have that faith—I praise God for the rescue availed to me.

That rescue is as simple as this:
“The truth shall set you free.”  

If that truth means we are trapped in freedom’s opposite—bondage—we see that the rock bottom descends farther down the more we ‘insist’ on refusing to take hold of our freedom.

L.I.S.T.E.N.

There comes a time in all our lives when our life is screaming at us to listen—to take heed of what our life would tell us if only it could speak.  

But of course, our life can and does speak to us.  How ‘fortunate’ or ‘unfortunate’ are we at present?  How is our approach to life working?  If we’re in an angry, bitter, resentful season, is that serving us and others?  And what are others in our lives saying?

There is a tragic irony at play in those whose lives are going to rack and ruin.  I know from direct lived experience.

When we most of all should listen,
we are least likely to.

Those who can listen to WHAT their lives are telling them—yes, that’s us—no matter how ugly or uncomfortable that message is—demonstrate the humility to grow.  They exhibit a growth mindset.  

Those who refuse to listen continue to lose what little they have; they create damage and contribute to disorder rather than invest in the fabric of life.

Here is an acronym to help:

Listen
Intently
Solemnly
Totally
Even
Now

Listening intently, solemnly as if it is all that matters, with the totality of our being, each moment, even now, staying in the present.  One moment at a time.  In faith, we are on the right track to that peace we seek.

Those who listen tend to succeed in life
because listening is central to humility.

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
(Matthew 23:13)

But we don’t typically take much heed of the direct path to success because we think taking control is what works.  

But this negates the fact that in life
there are so many things beyond our control.

The person who accepts what they cannot change—others, and many situations—and who changes the things they can—themselves, and their own responses—ultimately succeeds because these two are wisdom that leads to serenity.

Freedom’s peace is in the last place we look: the place of letting go when we prefer to clutch hold of our control so tightly.  The only thing we ought to clutch hold of tightly is what WE are responsible for.  Everything else WE ought to routinely learn to let go of.