How to Escape the Trap of Self-Pity

How do I stop feeling sorry for myself?

Recently, I’ve been talking about pitfalls that people tend to fall into. As I spoke of the pitfall of perfectionism, my guess is that a number of listeners thought: “Oh — yeah — that’s something I probably need to work on.” But I doubt that you felt personally insulted. I never make it my goal to insult you. In fact, I would go out of my way to avoid doing so.

Likewise, when I spoke on being a controller, although you might have noted someone near you poking you in the ribs, you probably weren’t really hurt by the message itself. I never want a podcast to injure you.

But this podcast might feel a little different. You might feel like saying, “OK, Pastor — you just moved from preachin’ to meddlin’!” That’s not my objective.

Still, the reality is that human beings have weaknesses. And if we never address our weaknesses, how are we to overcome them? Part of being compassionate means correcting error.

Years ago I cut myself shaving before church. I’d talked to a dozen people before Lloyd said to me, “Steve — you have a piece of paper tissue on your neck!” I wonder why no one else did that. They probably THOUGHT they were being compassionate. Lloyd was being compassionate. If someone has a character flaw that is trapping him in behavioral or thinking patterns that damage him, compassion corrects.

This podcast speaks of the thinking pattern of Self-Pity and helps you recognize it offers keys to correct it. The keys are hard pills to swallow, but they are worth it.

Even Though You’re Small, You’re Important…

Most who know me know the blessing I’ve given my children since they were small. I’ve given it to my church family for a dozen years as well. It goes like this:

There are certain things in this world that God has for you to do — and you’re just the right person to do them.

I’d like to think that was original with me, but of course, it’s not.  The concept is proclaimed throughout God’s Word.  Rick Warren expressed it very well in his book, The Purpose Driven Life. I probably first came across it as a teen when my pastor gave everyone a copy of The Four Spiritual Laws, a gospel tract that has been used countless times to help countless numbers of people come to faith in God.

Law number one goes something like this: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  I like that.
God loves you.  God has a plan for you.  It is true of us.  It was true of Israel  —  even the little town of Bethlehem.

In this podcast we look at this truth about Bethlehem and apply it to our own lives.