Encouragement 4 The Day-"Self Pity Will Sink You Every Time"

My personality when you consider the personality temperaments: Choleric, Melancholy, Sanguine and Phlegmatic, is strongly Melancholy then a bit of Choleric and Phlegmatic. Subsequently, for most of my life I have been prone to depressive tendencies. For those of you battling depression, you would understand that this personality trait lends to a miserable existence both for you and those around you.  Battling one of those periods prompted me to pick up a book at the library called: “How to Win Over DEPRESSION” BY Tim LaHaye and it certainly has been a very interesting read thus far. While I didn’t agree with everything written he made some very precise points which prompted me literally STOP and THINK.

One of the points made which I didn’t agree with was when Dr. LaHaye, in relating self pity to depression called self-pity sin. As with some of the other persons mentioned in the book, I too bristled when he had the nerve to state that the primary cause of depression was self pity. WHAT NERVE I thought and promptly after a few more painful attempts to continue reading skipped that chapter (yes I did). In fact, I got so annoyed that I put the book down but had to stop and think: Why was this bothering me so much? It’s one thing to disagree, but to become so annoyed warranted further examination.

This is what I determined: I don’t like it when Christians label things as sin simply because they can create negative scenarios/circumstances. For e.g. he also stated that anger was sin…but God became angry and God does not sin so anger in and of itself cannot be sin. What I could agree with was that, anger and especially self pity can create situations conducive to sinning and therefore we have to be vigilant in containing and sometimes eradicating those emotions. I believe in some instances that anger can propel us into action and so I don’t necessarily believe in squashing it all together but being extremely mindful of the subsequent results.

So, my follow up question examined why self pity was conducive to sinning and a light bulb went off in my head. Some of you may have already determined this but I’m somewhat of a late bloomer so excuse me please. Self-pity takes the focus off of God and puts it on you. To his credit, Dr. LaHaye did indicate throughout his book that when God is the primary focus of your life, it is very difficult to remain depressed. Then two light bulbs went off…yes I became a regular glow in the dark on this one. I thought about Job’s attitude shift when God took the focus off of him and placed it on His might and power and suddenly Job’s complaining ceased. It’s hard to be depressed about something that you’re not focusing on-isn’t it?

Peter was another example. He eagerly ran to Jesus when He walked on the water probably because he was afraid to stay in the boat. They were in the middle of a huge storm-remember? As he walked towards Jesus he took his eyes off of Him and PROMPTLY started to sink! So, I invite those of you battling depression like I am or if you’re someone prone to always feeling sorry for yourself, to STOP focusing on whatever you think is wrong in your life and focus on Christ. Don’t try to understand it or reason with it just try it and see what happens…