I don’t seem to feel sorry for myself too often. I’m not sure why that is because I certainly have a long list of stuff that is equally or even more disgusting about my attitude sometimes.
But every once in a while I find myself thinking something like...
This is ridiculous. Why do I have to put up with _________?
Maybe for you it takes the form of a comparison with someone else. As in:
Must be nice. She never has to struggle with ________.
Or
Well I would be happy too if I had that {job, marriage, body, you-fill-in-the-blank}
These are never thoughts to be proud of. And if they happen to make it from our minds to our mouths, it’s even worse.
I think one of the first steps we take that distances us from God (and it’s an almost imperceptible move away from Him) is through self-pity or self-indulgence. It turns us from God because we're looking at ourselves instead of Him. In his book “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis says that we’re like toads that can be cooked to death by merely bringing the water of self-interest to a gradual boil.
The remedy? Call it what it is – SIN
Agree with God about how ugly and deadly this attitude is. It’s a bit frightening to think about how long we can coddle these kinds of thoughts without realizing what it’s doing to us.
I’ve found it helps to confess it to someone else. Saying it out loud brings an ugly truth it into the light. Don’t you think the enemy prefers that we keep stuff like this under cover? Determine not to cooperate with him in keeping it hidden. Confession takes away the enemy's power.
The antidote? Refocus on all there is to be thankful for. Perspective is everything! If I can take my spot next to God’s throne and begin to see from His point of view, I find that gratitude wells up in place of self-pity. It moves me off center and reminds me Who has given me so much.
**Just found this on Kristen's blog today - we're on the same page!
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