Article November 17, 1997 Issue

No need to be a victim

Richard C. Bergenheim

It's surprising sometimes how tenaciously we hold on to our troubles. Yet at the very time we feel most victimized by things that seem beyond our control, the loving Christ is gently urging us to see a very different view of life. It's presenting a God-centered rather than a trouble-centered view of being; a view where the power and love of God cause trouble to disappear. Sometimes we rebuff that touch of love. But divine Love is not offended; it continues to love.

Some people suffer trial after trial, yet they never give out the sense of being victimized. Others suffer one setback—or many—and they are victims for life. The injustice, the irrationality of evil, the emotional and physical scars, are something from which they can't seem to shake themselves free. Yet Christ, Truth, is knocking on the door of our consciousness, and if we'll listen but a moment, we'll know there is a way out.

Spiritual sense, which we all have, presents an uncomfortable fact: we can't be victims unless we give our consent. "But I'm deaf!" "I was raped!" "I was discriminated against!" "I was hit by a drunk driver!" "I never gave consent to that!" You are right. But none of those kinds of things can actually make us be a victim. In my dictionary, the word victor comes after the word victim and its derivatives. There is a lesson in this. We can triumph over adversity or we can succumb to it.

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