Thursday, August 22, 2024

Victimhood & Self-Protection: Are You Living in Fear or Freedom?

By Amber Johnson on August 22, 2024

The word "victim" has been thrown around relentlessly in the past four years. It seems there is no end to who has been victimized by someone or a group of people.

While there's no doubt that being a victim of a wrongful act(s) is harmful and wrong, is it possible to heal and grow out of the victimhood mentality?

Bryan and Cyndy Sherwood of the "The Healing Journey" Biblical study series, strongly believe when we look to the Bible, we are called to take responsibility and lean into the Lord for our healing. According to the Sherwoods, someone stuck in victimhood allows life's difficult circumstances to define who he/she is.

This is the problem with the victimhood mentality, it allows the world, our hurts, and traumas to define our value and worth rather than trusting in God's Word about our value and worth.

As I dove into the lessons within the "The Healing Journey" study, I quickly realized all of us can and do get stuck in the victimhood mentality at times. Because we are sinners living in a fallen world, we all slip into believing false beliefs about ourselves or others which impacts how we behave and interact with the world around us.

It's a constant battle of the mind. Satan enjoys slipping in lies about who we are and our worth. He loves reminding us of those past traumas or "failures" so that we choose to stay stagnant or regress rather than live fully in the truth of God's Word.

While some people actively choose to stay in victimhood, others proactively take steps of healing and growth to live out their true identity in Christ. It is by the Holy Spirit that we can recognize these areas of victimhood within our lives and make healthy changes.

As mentioned by the Sherwood's, one of the goals of someone stuck in a victimhood mentality is self-protection. Instead of relying and trusting in God, this person relies and trusts in him/herself.

You may already be thinking, Well, of course I trust God more than myself. And I'd like to believe that about myself too. But if you think back to decisions you've made in the past or present, were any of those decisions made out of fear or feeling like you needed to take things into your own hands?

For many of us, like myself, it's easy to look around at our world, or our current or past circumstances, and allow fear to determine our present decisions.

I want to try playing in an adult basketball league, but I didn't do well with team sports as a kid, so I don't want to risk looking silly.

I didn't connect with anyone at my old church, so I don't want to try meeting friends at my new church because I'm afraid I'll be hurt again.

My parents always said I was stupid growing up, so I don't think I could get into law school; I'm afraid to even apply.

All of us are prone to self-protection, believing we can only rely on what we know or feel is right instead of surrendering our fears or concerns over to God. The problem with this mentality is that we aren't living in the fullness of who God says we are and what God has called us to do.

We're living in fear rather than in the freedom of Christ.

The Lord has called us to live fully in the newness of our identity in Jesus. And we need to be reminded of that renewal every day because it determines what we believe, our decisions, how we treat ourselves, and how we interact with those around us.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!

- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Living in fear through self-protection and trying to "control" isn't living; it's dying. This toxic mindset not only taxes our bodies and minds unnecessarily, it prevents us from taking action where God has called us to move. And we won't see where He is calling us to move if we don't take the first step in surrendering our fears over to Him.

Instead of putting ourselves in the place of God out of fear and self-protection, let's trust the Lord as our ultimate protector and provider. Pray and step out where God is calling you in faith.