{"id":1996,"date":"2014-08-30T06:06:05","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T13:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2014-08-30T06:06:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T13:06:05","slug":"is-self-pity-my-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/2014\/is-self-pity-my-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Self-Pity My Problem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-pity has no kinship with humility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"[The<\/a>
\nSelf-pity is a form of self-exaltation!<\/i><\/div>\n

Self-pity is weakness<\/strong>, not meekness.<\/p>\n

Self-pity steals attention from God. Self-pity reveals a focus on self which cannot co-exist with a focus on Christ<\/strong>. Thus, self-pity leaves Jesus out of the picture. If the previous be true, self-pity is sin<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Just as some folks use anger as a control mechanism, so others use self-pity to exercise control<\/strong>. If I project discouragement and depression with my self-pity, not many will dare cross me or correct me for fear of deepening my dejection. Handy, eh?<\/p>\n

Handy, yes. And sinful.<\/p>\n

In Trusting Our Sovereign God<\/a>, I wrote:<\/p>\n

The proper response to our own self-pity is repentance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To feel sorry for myself is essentially (and often, unwittingly) to question the love and justice of the Sovereign One. Self-pity ultimately is no different from challenging the wisdom and foresight of the Omniscient One. So who am I — who are you — to dare such a thing?!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Foolish was I, and ignorant”<\/span> (Psalm 73:22). Indeed!<\/p>\n

“Now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes”<\/span> (Job 42:5,6). If you have self-pity, Mark, repent of it.<\/p>\n

And here’s an excerpt from Choose: Self-Pity or Thanksgiving<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, though, I don’t remember considering that a thankful spirit sweeps away a “negatively self-focused” spirit. Oh, sure, I’ve known (and even taught!) that gratefulness can lift us out of depression and discouragement. But, somehow, I must have missed what being thankful can do to kill being self-pitying.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not to be self-absorbed or over-the-top self-promoting, but please indulge one more self-quote, this one from Self-Resistance<\/a><\/p>\n

Self-denial. It’s an essential, defining part of being a Christian<\/strong>. Without it, we can’t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”<\/span> (Matthew 16:24).<\/p>\n

The heart that’s panting<\/a> after God has no taste for self-pity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to steer straight when you’re navel gazing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[96,39,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-1996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-psalms","7":"tag-aspiration","8":"tag-encouragement","9":"tag-live-right","10":"h-entry","11":"hentry","12":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prJBV-wc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}