Victor vs Victim

Living...past the trauma...living abundantly and truly whole, requires mental transformation. From a "secular counseling" approach, the therapeutic working model would be Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy; but it is humorously and significantly parallel to fundamental "Christian training" that involves allowing Christ to transform the whole of who you are...Spiritually, mentally and emotionally. It includes spending focus on those trauma areas...the resulting faulty thinking that, in turn, damages our emotions and ultimately influences our behaviors. The holistic transformation that encompasses every area of living. The same principals that guide us into deeper relationship with God also serve as the best evidence approach chosen by worldly therapists in order to see the most healing and progress in a given individual. Psychology, or the study of the human psyche, is not incongruous with the study of following and living as Christ.

I think that too often, as Christians, however, we spend so much energy focusing on the religiosity spirit of growth that we miss a whole other dynamic and level of healing that involves the mind and heart. We can regurgitate truths, but do those same truths truly abide deeply within us? Not merely within our actions but within our thinking and feeling as well? Are we really taking captive all of the incongruities that plague or thoughts and emotions? This requires a lot more work! Much more time feeding our minds with truths...weeding through the lies that affect and show themselves through our emotions and behaviors...it requires God---at all times. It deepens intimacy with him in our 'working out of our salvation' alongside him instead of merely for him.

The number one struggle that I've seen play out in the Christian circle of trauma survivors, specifically, is the "Victor vs Victim" mental battle. Christ proclaims us as victorious in and through him. I think the problem is that we stop at the "In Christ" and do not integrate the "Through Christ". In other words...we study God...we learn everything about him and his character and how he works...how we can interact with him even, but we don't learn about ourselves in regards to our identity in him. We don't take Christ to those areas of our hurt thinking and emotions and let him walk us through...through to a new mentality, a new way of thinking and feeling. We say, either consciously or subconsciously that we are not worth knowing because we are victims, not victorious children of God. We cheapen God's redemptive power and by limiting ourselves through selfishness and not choosing to see who we are through the eyes of Jesus, we limit the all of God. If we don't even know ourselves then how do we expect God to do a thorough work in those given areas? If we remain blind to specific problem areas, then we are not opening that door to the work of the Holy Spirit. We remain in a victim mindset of endless helplessness, faulty thinking, and poor coping strategies...we remain living without the more. What a disappointment life must become within the Christian heart...trying to work towards freedom and known inheritance, but continually failing because we are being led through ourselves instead of Christ. I think it is why some people end up falling away from Christ, for the reason of not being able to achieve the victory that Christ proclaims is available.

The victim mentality. It is naturally self-defeating as well as others defeating. We expect ourselves to fail and we surely expect others to fail us. Do you see a theme in that sentence? Ourselves and Us. Us---alone---not Us with God. We get trapped in an egotistical mindset of US...everything is about me and everything about me is bad...a very exaggerated selfishness that sets us up for eventual failure. God is not the one failing us...WE are failing OURSELVES!! We are refusing to allow Christ into our failing mindsets, paradigms, emotions, and subsequent behaviors. We walk with the name Christian but are missing Christ in the equation as well as his best intentions for our lives.

Jesus longs to restore...think how it must grieve him when we choose to remain broken. I have heard such negative church or Christian opinion in regards to the secular "self-help" material available in stores. I dare to challenge the foundation of their thesis...that if we would just focus on God instead of ourselves all of our problems would just go away. I don't agree. My theory is this: Our focus on God includes receiving revelation about ourselves. For this is the concept of relationship, right? Does God not desire to know us? But he already really does...so really he is wanting us to show ourselves to him! Does that make sense? He wants such a deep intimacy with us that he desires that we bring ALL of who we are to him....this, in turn, allows the ability for us to address US IN AND THROUGH CHRIST so that we can live out our purposed identities. Our identity becomes Christ rooted instead of Us rooted. In other words...we embrace victory. We are transformed through Christ from victims to victors.