When You Feel Sorry for Yourself

We've all done it.  When things go wrong, when people don't do what they should, or when adverse circumstances seem to go on and on with no end in sight...if we're not careful, we feel sorry for ourselves. 

We don't want to admit it.

But I'm a big fan of looking at truth square in the face and acknowledging where we've gone wrong so we can change.     If we don't change, we'll stay the same! (That's deep, isn't it?) If we don't see it, we're stuck in it. 

So let's take a look at this underhanded tactic of the devil -- self-pity. 

Push Back!

It's so easy to feel sorry for yourself. I mean, life isn't fair. 

But there's really nothing more paralysing than self pity.  It discourages you and steals your faith.  It makes you want to quit, because the devil knows the only way he can defeat you is to get you to quit. The only way you lose is if you quit.

So when people or circumstances push you around and make you feel sorry for yourself, as a Christian what should you do?  You should grab your Bible, stand on your covenant, and push back! 

When you're tired, frustrated, vulnerable, or just plain put upon you can be tempted to feel sorry for yourself -- like crawling into bed and pulling the covers over your head. But that's not the time to focus on how hard you have it -- that's exactly the time when you need to read more Word, pray more in the spirit, and speak out more of your covenant than ever before!

It's the time to get agressive in your faith.  Do more to build yourself up, not less, resisting self-pity with ever fiber of your being. Self-pity is a result of perspective.  Too much thinking about ourselves. Time to put our focus back on God.  

Don't Settle for "Slogging Through"

It's easy sometimes to get into a "slog through" mentality.  By that I mean it's easy to go through life with an attitude that says, "Well, this is my lot in life, I'll just have to suffer through."

That's not a faith-filled attitude...that's a self-pity attitude!  I heard one minister recently call it "Victimology Theology." 

That is not the way we're called to live!  Don't let a "suffer through" life settle in on you and get comfortable.  Rise up!  Shake it off!  Get back into faith!  

Faith is what's going to overcome your circumstances, not self-pity (1 John 5:4). Yes, there's a fight to be fought.  But you have to remember that your enemy is already defeated!  The only fight you're fighting is the fight of faith.

That means we have to believe something we can't see yet, because God's Word says it's ours -- and keep on believing until we do see it.  And you know what a fight that can be.

But in the heat of the fight, don't go to feeling sorry for yourself.  Self-pity will cut your faith legs right out from under you faster than almost anything.  It's so dangerous! 

Second Timothy 2:3 NASB says, "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."  Suffering hardship does not mean to feel sorry for yourself.  It means things might get tough -- so you be tough like a good soldier!

A soldier who starts feeling sorry for himself in the middle of a battel is not a soldier who's thinking on victory. You can't have self-pity and faith at the same time.

What To Do

Recognizing self-pity is half the battle.  If you find yourself there, determine to snap out of it!

Get your focus back on God and His Word. Get a new perspective. Remind yourself what it means to be a Christian.  It means the Greater One lives in you! (1 John 4:4).  It means you're more than a conqueror! (Romans 8:37). 

Cast out those thoughts of "poor me," saturate your spirit in what the Word of God says about you, and you're well on your way to victory!