We have little sympathy for victims until we are one …

Yes, there really is such a thing as a “victim.”

For some reason, in 2021 America, we don’t seem to like to admit that fact. We’ve developed such a “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality and over-emphasize “individual responsibility” to the point we have little sympathy for someone who is truly a victim in life … until we become one.

In fact, we hardly have the eyes to see when someone is a victim.

But there are victims in our world, people like Tim Cole, who would lose his freedom over a false charge …

It was 1985 when Tim Cole was picked out of a lineup for a rape he never committed but would be convicted of and sentenced to serve 25 years. He was near the Texas Tech campus when the rape occurred and as a result was sent to prison because the victim picked the wrong man and the courts sentenced the wrong man. While in prison Tim Cole remained confident that the justice system would prevail and though he did not live to see it, dying in 1999, a 2009 DNA test proved his innocence. Something he never did compromise on.

While in prison Cole gave away thousands to charity from his GI Bill, nurtured his family and encouraged his sister Karen Kennard to pursue her law degree. She did and became the city attorney for Austin, Tx.

It was on September 17, 2014 that Gov. Rick Perry, state Attorney General Henry Abbot and state Sen. Wendy David, and Michele Malin, the woman who picked Cole out in the lineup, as well as family and friends dedicated the 13 foot bronze statue placed near where the crime happened and facing the law school of Texas Tech. Why there? To remind law students who will someday become future prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges to realize humans are fallible and make mistakes.

Michele Malin, after realizing her mistake, sought to get Cole’s name cleared and in 2009 another man wrote to Cole and confessed to the rape. By that time Tim Cole had been dead for 10 years. “A victim, just like my son was.” Tim Cole’s mother once told Malin, and we all are with injustice.

Tim Cole’s mother said, “He left here with his head bowed and his arms and legs in shackles. Today he returns standing tall, uncompromised. But not unsung.”

Not all victims are innocent victims of the legal system, there are many ways that life’s circumstances are beyond our control and get the better of us. And there is also an enemy, Satan, who is as committed to our destruction as God is committed to our salvation.

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour,” 1 Peter 5:8.

The early church set an example for how to treat life’s victims, those who faced circumstances too difficult to overcome by themselves. Instead of standing by and watching victims suffer, and telling them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, the first church banded together and overcame needs as a faith family:

“All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need,” Acts 4:32-35.

It seems like a key reason why so many professing Christians are afraid to help people in need is they’re afraid they might be helping someone who caused their own problem.

Occasionally, they might be!

Who among us hasn’t exercised bad judgment or made a terrible decision at some point in our lives that left us in some pretty negative circumstances? At that time, we may have only been victims of our own poor decision-making, but does that mean such a person deserves any less mercy than others? Look at the example of Jesus, who ministered to people who were victims of life, victims of Satan, and victims of their own sin; He loved and cared for all of them! He didn’t vet people for root cause of their needs, He loved them, healed them, and invited them all to come, follow Him.

While we don’t want to become enablers to people who perpetually make bad decisions, the church needs to learn to exercise greater compassion for the real victims of life, and be ready and willing to minister to their needs with kindness and the love of Christ. Just as Jesus set us free from being victims of our own sin, which we caused ourselves, we need to follow in His steps and help people become overcomers through Christ of what confounds their lives.

How are you an understanding help to the people you know who have become victims in their life’s circumstances? How can you minister to their needs and help them to become overcomers?

Scotty