This re-introduction to the word “victim”, establishes two truths about the terminology. The first is the reality we are all as human beings victims of something; products of circumstances that we were unable to control. We all are the outcome of that which we are powerless against. Example: We, as human beings, are the end result of the reproductive process that we all had no control, say, or decision in. None of us chose to be conceived or born, nor were we afforded the option of choosing otherwise. It is disingenuous to see to a specific race, culture, or person as just a victim as it reduces them to a demographic that, at its best, is doing its worst.
The second is that though we are all victims, we, as those who believe in God, are not defined by our victimization. We should not allow ourselves or anyone else to characterize us by the negative aspects of our lives. We need to begin to realize that our life story is not a sad one but rather a beautiful one that may have some saddening parts in it. Doing so, moves us out of the thinking that focuses on what may have happened to us and into the frame of thinking that excitedly asks God, “What is going to happen to us next?” Though none of asked to be conceived or born, none of us are allowing the absence of that choice, our victimization, to prevent us from living our lives as we choose. We unconsciously tell ourselves that what happened then will not dictate what happens to us going forward. Brothers, and sisters, in this same vein, we need to stop allowing the heinous, horrible things that have happened to us, both personally & as a people, to dictate what we are becoming or what we will become.
Where our concept of what it means to be a victim has spiritual implications, is in the misrepresentation of the God that we serve. When the people of God adopt a debilitating connotation of what it is to be a victim, we indirectly give impression to a God that we say is good but appears spiteful to those looking for Him in us. How can we hold tightly to a definition of what a victim is if that definition denies the victory that God offers to each and every one of us? 1 Corinthians 15:57 tells us that we have “victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” As beautiful as we are as African Americans, we need to begin to live our life stories as if we believe the ending that the Supreme Author has written for us, instead allowing the darker parts to convince us that the story is over. Our story should never start in oppression, slavery, or poverty. Nor, in Jesus’ name, should it ever stay there. Everyday God gives us the opportunity to live on this realm, we represent the failure of the adversary’s attempt to defeat us.
That victory is something we should revel in and not run from. We are more than just victims; more than the sum of our circumstances. We know about the things our people have had to endure just in our experience in America alone. We, perhaps more than any other nationality, may fit the negative description of “victim”. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:37 says that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Through God we are more than victims. Through God, we can be restored and reclaim that which was taken from us. Through God who loves us we aren’t just victims, we are victorious victims. We are a people who have taken the worst of the world flush on the chin, and yet, still stand today ready & poised for greatness. We are all victorious victims. God’s best, our best, & your best are truly yet to come!!