Because Jesus Says So

I am not a victim of sexual abuse. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just means I am not a victim. And I'm not a non-victim because I say so, because I have some amazing inner strength or deep resolve that grits its teeth and clenches its fists and says to itself, "You will not be a victim today!" I'm a non-victim because Jesus says so. Jesus knows what someone else chose to do, how someone else's brokenness broke me too. But, He loves me and wants me to be made new in Him. If I choose to identify myself by what I did in the past, or what others did to me, or what others did years and years before I was ever thought of, I will never go any further than the past. There are those days when I want to be a victim, when I am afraid, or I want to do the lazy, useless, easy thing of wrapping myself up in pity and flopping onto the sofa and withdrawing. But, I have to choose, and I choose to believe Jesus.

In Genesis 3, we read how Adam and Eve sinned. God knew they would; it didn't catch Him off guard. He had a plan. Look at verse 15:

"And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel."

Notice the capital "S" in the word Seed. This is God talking about Jesus. Jesus is the Seed who will crush the serpent's head. God is the God of the past, the present, and the future. God did not want any of His creatures to remain in hopelessness and bondage. God planned a way out before we ever got ourselves in. In Christ, we are not victims, but victors. We were given a way of escape. 

Choosing to live as a victim of abuse led me to addiction and unhealthy relationships. I was in an abusive marriage and, once again, my victim mentality told me I was "trapped." That's the word I used. If I stayed, how could I protect my son from learning to treat his wife that way, or my daughter from learning it was okay for her to be treated that way? If I left, how would I protect them from homelessness? Trapped. But I wasn't; it was a lie. I had to do what was right and I had to do what was hard, but I could trust Jesus to take care of the rest. And He did. Jesus was my way out; the door had been open all along, opened at the cross before I was ever born. I could only be a victim, I could only be trapped if I chose to remain that way. 

After the curse had been given, Genesis 3:20 says, "And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." Mother. Eve had not delivered a child. In fact, the only mention of children was with regard to the curse of pain during labor (v. 16). In faith, Adam named her Eve, mother of all living. Adam saw the hope, even in the curse. God delivered hope, even in the curse. And Adam acted accordingly.

What do you need to be delivered from today? Who is keeping you there? If you have given your life to Jesus, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. You might have lost your spouse, but your spirit has been filled with joy and peace. You might be terminally ill, but your spirit has been made well. You might be wrestling with addiction, but your spirit has been made free. There are things we might need to do in the natural -- counseling, financial aid, medication -- but your spirit was delivered long ago and in Christ, your tomb is empty. You are not trapped, you are not a victim of the ravages of sin and death. In Christ, we are made new and the past is just that. Because Jesus says so.