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CULTIVATING A LIFESTYLE OF THANKSGIVING

Part Seven - The Pitfall of Self Pity

Volume XIII Number 7                                                                                                                                            May 7, 2010
 

Thanks be to God who ALWAYS gives us the overwhelming victory - 2 Corinthians 2:14

                                                                                                                                             

Greetings in the name of Jesus!

                                                                               

Previously we've discussed that THANKSGIVING connects us to God's GRACE. We've also discussed that the word GRACE is most often defined as God's UNMERITED FAVOR. We need God's GRACE to get born again (Ephesians 2:5), we need it to deal with the challenges and adventures of life (Hebrews 4:16) and we need it to accomplish His plans and purposes (Acts 4:33). God has made His GRACE available but each person has to RECEIVE it, we have to ACCEPT it. That's what happens when we get born again: we RECEIVE the GRACE of God through FAITH and we start trusting in Him (Ephesians 2:5). It's the same process for the other areas of life. God's part in these things is making His GRACE available which He does because of what Jesus accomplished at the Cross. It's ALWAYS available; our part is to RECEIVE it through FAITH.  

 

We've also pointed out that the Greek word translated GRACE in the New Testament is CHARIS and one of the various meanings of it says that CHARIS/GRACE is a divine influence on the heart (one's thinking) that produces gratitude. Gratitude is of course THANKSGIVING. So CHARIS/GRACE is a divine influence that has the ability to produce thankfulness or gratitude in our lives once we've RECEIVED THE GRACE. So, when we're walking in the GRACE that we've already received, we ought to be experiencing a general "attitude of gratitude" because GRACE and THANKSGIVING are so closely connected.

 

Now since GRACE is essential for obtaining victory in life under the New Testament, we ought to be pursuing the things that increase GRACE or make it stronger and avoiding the things that decrease it or make it weaker. In recent issues we've pointed out and supported with scripture that HARDNESS OF HEART and PRIDE are two things that make us ungrateful and separate us from God's GRACE. God does NOT ever withhold His GRACE under the New Covenant; no, we separate ourselves from what He has made available by the things that we choose to do. It's our responsibility. So now in this issue we'll examine a third of these "pitfalls" that separate us from the Lord's empowerment: SELF PITY.

 

Describing Self Pity

 

Have you ever had to spend time around people who devote a lot of their lives feeling sorry for themselves? Sometimes they're pouty and depressed and don't want to speak to people because they're going through difficult things in life they think they don't deserve. Other times they complain to everyone they can find who'll listen and then describe in detail how the things they're going through are the worst burdens in the history of mankind and how totally unfair it is that they have to go through their particular trials. "Why me? Why do I have to go through these things in my life? I DON'T DESERVE THIS KIND OF TREATMENT! And you couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through."

 

Frankly, the Body of Christ looks a lot like the World in this area, sometimes worse. Some of us are mad at the Pastor or the leadership in the local church we belong to because they haven't treated us the way we think we DESERVE to be treated. But then also they're a lot of Pastors and church Leaders who stay mad at some of their people because they've caused problems in the past or they left and went to another church. Other Believers are mad at their spouses or their friends or their business associates for various ongoing offenses. And many, many, many Christians hold onto resentments and unforgiveness and bitterness for decades in DIRECT disobedience of New Testament scripture, and even though they're killing themselves, because of things that happened in church relationships. People expected things to happen a certain way, for people to act differently, and reality didn't resemble their expectations. "Oh woe is me."

 

And then they're a whole LOT of Christians that are mad at God because through unscriptural theology and doctrine they blame Him for the trials and tribulations they have to go through. Somehow they believe that even though Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and render him powerless (Hebrews 2:14) and make a public display of his powerlessness (Colossians 2:15), God still somehow conspires with this defeated, powerless adversary to teach us things even though your Bible says that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher and will teach us ALL things (John 14:26). So they say: "Why does God treat me this way? Why doesn't He release me from this trial? I DON'T DESERVE this treatment and I'm just going to stop talking to God until He starts treating me right. I'll stop going to church for a few weeks and God will be forced to take this trial off me. Or, I'll beg and plead with Him for deliverance until He feels sorry for me and gets me out of my problems. Etc. Etc."   

 

The key word in Self Pity is SELF and people who've fallen into this way of life are focused on themselves instead of on the Kingdom of God. Nothing from God can come into our lives as a result of being focused on oneself, from being SELFISH and from thinking we DESERVE something. The truth is we DON'T DESERVE anything good, from either God or from other people as well. Thank God we don't get what we really do deserve and the reason we don't is that thanks to Jesus, God has chosen to FORGET our sins (Hebrews 8:12) and offer us MERCY and GRACE instead of judgment. And so, SELF PITY is about feeling sorry for oneself because something is happening to us we DON'T DESERVE.

 

The Temptation of Christ

 

Did you know Jesus was once tempted to enter into Self Pity? Most Believers haven't seen this in the Scripture and we have to look a little deeper than usual to get the understanding. Please look with us at Matthew 16:21-23:

 

"... Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to REBUKE Him, saying 'God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.' But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

 

Wow! Why was Jesus so tough on Peter? Didn't this loving disciple have Jesus' best interests in mind? Couldn't Jesus see that Peter loved Him and didn't want to lose Him? A lot of us gloss over these scriptures: Jesus is accusing one of His leading disciples of manifesting Satan and being used by Satan to cause Jesus to be hindered from going forward with the things He had told them He would be doing. This is not figurative, it's real. Can we all see this: the man who soon became the Apostle Peter WAS MANIFESTING SATAN!

 

To get the impact here we have to study the Greek because the words translated "God forbid it" could have easily been translated PITY YOURSELF. In other words disciple Peter was trying to make the point that because of His righteousness Jesus didn't DESERVE the outcome He was describing at the hands of the Jewish leaders. Jesus was being tempted to PITY HIMSELF for what He was going to have to go through because He knew better than any of His disciples that He didn't DESERVE to have to endure what He was about to undergo. He had never sinned; He had always loved; He had healed the sick; He had always done what He saw the Father doing and what His Father had told Him to do; He had never disobeyed even on a small point; He had carried out the Law to perfection. And Jesus also knew that part of what He was going to have to endure was a temporary separation from the presence of His Father, a separation from God's empowerment which was NOT DESERVED.

 

Jesus was perfect but He had Flesh and His flesh wanted to resist the ordeal. That's why He sweated blood in the Garden on Passover night just before He was taken away to be tried by the Leaders. Jesus was resisting His Flesh and He had to overcome His Flesh and do what He knew was right. But just a moment of SELF PITY would have stopped the process and changed history. SELF PITY would have separated Him from God's empowerment before the Cross. He would have given in to the Flesh. But fortunately Jesus recognized the danger and RESISTED the enemy strongly and immediately.

 

Friend, the same danger works through SELF PITY today. The result of SELF PITY, of thinking we DESERVE something, is separation from the power and the favor of God. And one of the worst things we can do when we encounter other Believers who're manifesting SELF PITY is to feed it by agreeing with them that they DESERVE better. If you do that you're contributing to their separation from the empowerment (GRACE) they need to get the victory over their SELF PITY and over the problem that's causing it. Political correctness says we should comfort those who DESERVE better but the truth is they don't really DESERVE better. Think about it and you'll see why Jesus was so upset with Peter and why we need to stay away from SELF PITY like the plague. When we finally see that we don't DESERVE anything at all, we'll come to the point where we no longer have expectations and we can be filled with THANKSGIVING for all the good things we've already received. In short, we should expect nothing and be thankful for everything.

 

Thanks for being with us today. We'll see you again in three weeks on May 28. May God bless you and your family as you offer up THANKSGIVING together and put SELF PITY under your feet.   

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can do so today just by saying the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

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