Misery Is A Choice
March 11, 2016
Philippians 4:11 “…for I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances.”
One of the secrets of learning how to find contentment in this life is to avoid self-pity. Have you ever had a pity party, a bad case of the woe-is-me? I think we understand the feeling of the little girl who fell and skinned her knee. She ran to her mom and dad to show the full extent of the injury and to get some TLC. They appropriately showed concern, put a band-aid on it, and sent her back to play. Sometime later they found her in her room crying. They asked if her knee still hurt, and she said, “No, but when I hurt it, you and momma didn’t feel sorry enough so I am up here feeling sorry for myself.” Have you ever done that? Life is difficult. You get skinned up and sometimes feel like you always get the short end of the stick and life is unfair, and that you are being singled out for misery. If we can’t get anyone else to feel sorry for us enough, we will feel sorry for ourselves. Self-pity, though, will drag you down to the depths of despair. You can’t afford to stay in self-pity for very long. God has given us a lot of good gifts, and one of His greatest gifts is the gift of choice. You don’t get to choose your circumstances, but you do get to choose what your attitude and response is going to be in your circumstances. You can choose to feel sorry for yourself and whine your life away, or you can choose joy. My favorite quote is, “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.” The apostle Paul was in prison, but out of the prison he wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance.” He didn’t choose self-pity, he chose Christ, and He discovered in choosing Christ he was choosing contentment. I encourage you to choose Christ and not self-pity.
– Tim Thompson, Senior Pastor
whatever the circumstances.”
One of the secrets of learning how to find contentment in this life is to avoid self-pity. Have you ever had a pity party, a bad case of the woe-is-me? I think we understand the feeling of the little girl who fell and skinned her knee. She ran to her mom and dad to show the full extent of the injury and to get some TLC. They appropriately showed concern, put a band-aid on it, and sent her back to play. Sometime later they found her in her room crying. They asked if her knee still hurt, and she said, “No, but when I hurt it, you and momma didn’t feel sorry enough so I am up here feeling sorry for myself.” Have you ever done that? Life is difficult. You get skinned up and sometimes feel like you always get the short end of the stick and life is unfair, and that you are being singled out for misery. If we can’t get anyone else to feel sorry for us enough, we will feel sorry for ourselves. Self-pity, though, will drag you down to the depths of despair. You can’t afford to stay in self-pity for very long. God has given us a lot of good gifts, and one of His greatest gifts is the gift of choice. You don’t get to choose your circumstances, but you do get to choose what your attitude and response is going to be in your circumstances. You can choose to feel sorry for yourself and whine your life away, or you can choose joy. My favorite quote is, “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.” The apostle Paul was in prison, but out of the prison he wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance.” He didn’t choose self-pity, he chose Christ, and He discovered in choosing Christ he was choosing contentment. I encourage you to choose Christ and not self-pity.
– Tim Thompson, Senior Pastor
Excellent advice. Thank you. It’s been many, many years, but I remember you as the chaplain at Huntingdon College for a brief time. I lost track of you since I’ve been in North Alabama all these years. Very nice to learn you are at Frazer. 🙂