Are you a victim? Has the past wronged you? Do you need vindication, justification and affirmation?
These are days of broken homes and disrupted families and much of our juvenile delinquency is because of this. It is only natural for the victims of it all to come to the conclusion that everything is against them and wind up asking the question, "What's the use?"
Perhaps you believe society, the way you were raised, or an individual is to blame. This hopelessness may take various forms and briefly I would like to discuss some of them with you.
Freud will help!
The advocates of Freudianism have taught this theory until it has become widely accepted, especially in the psychology and psychiatry fields. They want to eliminate what they choose to call the "guilt complex" which is in most cases not a complex (in light of their definition of a complex) but a guilty conscience which is an intricate part of every person that has not destroyed it by abuse. The Bible clearly points out that every man has a conscience that either condemns or excuses. Of course, we have what psychologists call "sociopaths" which is supposed to be a person that was born without a conscience, or one who has at least destroyed it by violation of its promptings.
Nevertheless, the "guilt complex" they speak about is nothing more than a guilty conscience that can be remedied by a confession of the wrong to the Lord Jesus.
The Freudians, not knowing Jesus as Saviour, seek to eradicate the guilt by convincing the guilty one that their actions are all motivated by misdeeds that they have suffered at the hands of others. The argument is that the lack of parental love, or some wrong they suffered at the hands of society is really the underlying cause. For instance, psychiatrist have tried to prove that what really caused Freud to be anti-religious was a disappointment he had in a nursemaid that once cared for him, took him to Sunday School etc., and then was caught stealing.
When Oswald shot President Kennedy, immediately many started saying that it was repressive society that had caused Oswald to do what he did. This same attitude is expressed in some of the popular music. One such song by British singer-comedian, Anna Russell, says,
"At three I had a feeling of ambivalence toward my brothers,
And so it follows naturally, I poisoned all my lovers.
But now I'm happy, I've learned the lesson that has been taught,
That everything I do that's wrong, is somebody else's fault."
It is definitely true that the wrong actions of one person may adversely affect another. However, this is not any reason for excusing anyone's wrongdoing. I am what I am because of my own choice. I may have been influenced to become a Christian, but I am one solely by my own choice. All the good influence in the world, coupled with all the grace of God stood willing to afford me, would have been as naught if I would have chosen to disregard it.
Others who are sinners have no doubt been influenced in that direction. However, the course of action they are taking is their own choice and the guilt for it will have to be laid at their own door, certainly not at another's.
I want to call your attention to a Bible character that we all need to take a lesson from. You will find the story recorded in the book of Judges and his name was Jephthah. This young man was born in a shame that was not his own. His father was a wicked man who had no regards whatever for his marriage vows. He was a lustful beast who had his fling. He sowed his wild oats and poor Jephthah was a part of the unwanted harvest.
His mother too was one who daily sold her body over the counters of iniquity. She was a professional outcast, one of those whose feet in all ages, take hold on hell.
He was the fragment of a home that never was. He had no father that dared own him and the first one that ever kissed him was a mother whose lips had been stained by years of sinful living. Poor little baby, poor little outcast, how much he missed.
After several years passed, the possessions of the family came to be divided and Jephthah's half brothers and sisters beat him out of his inheritance and drove him from their midst. He was forced to go to the heathen country of Tob, a mountain fortress place, where the people, though heathen, at least treated him better than his own people had back home.
In spite of the fact that he was a child of shame, that ugly names were hurled at him before he was old enough to know the meaning of the words, in spite of the fact that he could not recall any childhood days of happiness, he refused to surrender. He seemed to say for himself, "If nobody else will trust me, I will trust myself. If nobody else will help me and give me my deserved inheritance, I will help myself. So, he rolled up his sleeves and went to work.
One day he had some visitors, some of the elders from Israel. They came to tell him that the Ammonites were making war with the Children of Israel and the situation was very serious. The elders asked Jephthah if he would come home with them and be their General to lead the Israelite armies. Jephthah said to them very kindly, "Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? And why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?" Judges 11:7
What a shock. Here was a young man who began with nothing, yes worse than nothing. Instead of whining, instead of quitting, instead of putting in his time wishing he were somewhere else, instead of pouting and blaming someone else for his troubles, he did his duty where he was and folks found it out and came to kneel at his feet to call on him for help.
Not all men get their just deserts, but I do believe that in most cases, if a person is really any account, sooner or later the world will find it out. What is that old adage which says, "Make a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door?"
The poet wrote—
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
This may at times be true, but I am convinced that any gem of real human greatness and worth never lies concealed permanently. I seriously question if any radiant flower of human character and sweetness ever wastes its sweetness on the desert air. Learn to do something that the world needs done and it will find out and come to your door, even if it is in the desert.
If there ever was an opportunity for Jephthah to unleash a volume of hate and accusations about the wrongs he had suffered, this was the time. However, he had a very sweet spirit and agreed to go. I would to God that we in this day could be so Christ-like. Thousands of people have been lost to the church because somebody in the Church wronged them (or so they felt) and they dropped out of the fellowship. Thousands have carried old hatreds and grudges that eat away at their vitals bringing them to cynicism, an early grave, and many have lost their soul because they never would forgive.
Jephthah agreed to go but told the Elders that he must go to the altar first. He had been living in a heathen land but he had not absorbed their heathenism. He still believed in God, maintained an altar, and knelt there to seek guidance from God. One of the tragic things of our day is that far too many who name the name of Christ are becoming saturated with the worldliness and heathenisms that permeates our society. Instead of maintaining our integrity, living above the din of the old world, making sure that our lamps are kept trimmed and burning so as to be an effective witness to the lost around us, so many have allowed their globes to become stained and their wicks to become charred over. Yes, and in most cases in spite of the fact that we have been raised in a good influence not akin to that which was poor Jephthah's lot. Daniel’s God was tested not in the pleasant surroundings of his early home life but among his foes. It was in the midst of the lion’s den that the voice of the King rang out, “Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee?”
At the altar Jephthah made a vow, perhaps it was a bit rash, it was one that would cost him the dearest thing in his life, his only child. However, he was concerned about God's people Israel and his concern motivated him to promise God his all. When it came time to pay his vow, would he backout?
God gave him the victory over the Ammonites and all the Israelites were made to finally honor Jephthah. The time came to go back home to the land of Tob and no doubt his heart is uneasy. Nobody knew what the vow was that he had made, but Jephthah had not forgotten. He had promised that if God would give the Children of Israel the victory in battle, he would offer unto God the first thing that he saw coming out his house door upon his return from the field. I am sure he was riding back home with a downcast spirit. His face must have been ashen as he wondered just what would come out that door. Finally, they round the last corner, and his house comes in view. Suddenly the door flings open and a beautiful little girl with rosey cheeks comes running down the road to meet her daddy, it was Jephthah's only child. He holds her to his heart. She is all he has, his cup is bitter beyond the drinking. He says, "Alas my daughter, you have brought me very low."
He tells her what the vow was and she was so sweet and resigned to it all that she said, "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hast proceeded out of thy mouth forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon." No doubt those around him reasoned saying "Jephthah, you made that vow in a time of heated emotionalism, it is too harsh, God does not expect it of you, I would forget it if I were you." However, Jephthah said, "I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back."
The world has been kept together by the "cannot" men and women. Joseph in the house of Potiphar, tempted for his very life said, "I cannot do it." The apostles when ordered to keep quiet said, "We cannot." Jephthah with broken heart and tearstained face, tempted to break his vow said, "I cannot." The need today is for young men and women who will make their vows to God and when tempted to break them, say determinedly "I cannot." Who in spite of their unfavorable background, a poor homelife, and all else, who may be tempted to throw themselves away and feel there is no hope, will decide as did Jephthah to have faith in themselves. We need those who in the midst of a heathenish world, invited on every hand to become a part of it, will say, "I am God's, I cannot yield." If you have never made your vow to God, would you do it even as you read these lines? Maybe you have made your commitment to the Lord, but have not been true to Him. Would you renew that today and determine from this day henceforward, you will keep you commitment regardless of what happens? Do it for your soul's sake. Do not seek affirmation, vindication, or justification. Do not intermingle Freudian psychology with Christian living. Don’t go back and psychoanalyze every action taken against you. Don’t champion what should not have happened or what should have been. Freud is dead. He cannot help you. The Lord Jesus is the everlasting King of King. He loves you and, if you have accepted Him, He is your Saviour most of all. Stand now for right and move forward for the glory of God.
(Taken in part from first printing September 1981)
Comments