You know the kind - it tangles itself around your heart and sucks out every bit of joy:
Someone else is doing something I should be doing. Someone else is having fun when I want to. Someone else is getting what I deserve.
I have the pity party down pat. I am an expert at the art of wallowing. I know the dull throb of self-pity, how it eats you up inside and steals your satisfaction.
This is why self-pity is bad for your soul:
Self-pity idolizes our self and then says that we inherently deserve good instead of bad.
Self-pity says that we don't really merit wrath if we deserve that promotion.
Self-pity breeds jealousy and discontentment.
Self-pity cuts away joy and cultivates comparison.
Self-pity forgets that Jesus took the wrath that we deserved so that we don't have to.
Self-pity is hypocritical.
Self-pity doesn't understand grace.
Self-pity is pride.
So what is the cure for self-pity? Look to Jesus. See His perfection, see His work of atonement, and know that because He bore God's wrath, you don't have to.
What you deserved, you didn't get.
Out of every person to ever live, Jesus was the most justified to feel self-pity. He was getting what He fundamentally did not deserve. But He never pitied Himself. Instead, He rejoiced in following His Father's will (Matt. 26:39).
Today, when self-pity claws its way into your heart, when comparison threatens to steal your joy, look to Jesus. See the wrath that you deserve, the wrath that He took, and rejoice. Be content that you won't get what you deserve.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons and Neil Kremer.