Self-pity…

Self-pity is a pit and leads to bondage.  The worst pits are the ones you dig yourself.  

There is no room in leadership for self-pity.  It will drag others into the pit with you.

Self-pity is sin.  “…and whatever is not of faith is sin.”  Romans 14:23   When we dwell on our situation looking for pity and wallowing in it, we prove our doubt in God’s sufficiency. 

Self-pity is fleshly and carnal minded.  Joy is the byproduct of the spiritual life.  Galatians 5 tells us that one apect of The fruit of the Spirit is joy.  It’s the fruit of abiding in Jesus and walking in the Spirit.  What is not of the Spirit is flesh.    “Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out, into the open, into a spacious, free life.”  Romans 8:6 (MSG)

Self-pity leads to bondage.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”  II Corinthians 10:4 (KJV)  If this preoccupation with self in our state of pity is carnally minded and leads to death but faith in God leads us out into the open to freedom, then self pity puts us in bondage.  It creates a stronghold bound by walls and chains doubt.

Self-pity seeks attention.  It seeks to get it’s needs met by attention from others instead of faith in God to be our deliverer.  It can also be seeking to get God’s attention through pity.

Self-pity leads to sinful behavior.  Self-pity will digress into seeking attention through a victim mentality and blame.  This can turn into gossip and slander and bearing false witness.  We can excuse all kinds of behavior when we seek pity.  Unfortunately, others will go there with us.  They will crawl into the pit with us.  Missery loves company.  It can also develop into self-righteousness or a false righteousness.  You think you are right, after all you are the victim.  You tell others of the wrong that has been done to you because it elevates you and dismisses you behavior and focuses on others.  It’s a shift of blame.  You feel justified but never feel satisfied.

Self-pity is self-deception.  It is blindness. You don’t realize the spiritual state you are in because of your flesh fest.

Self-pity stunts spiritual growth.   It stops you dead in your tracks.  It holds you in that and to that moment.  It will bring you down and not let you move forward.  Pity holds on to the past. and drops an anchor in your life causing you to be battered by the storms of life unable to navigate free of other dangers. 

This will have to be Part 1.   Check back for part 2 and “The way out of the PIT.”