Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”
Our Bible verse for today: “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So the father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, “Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.” Luke 15:28-30 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Self-pity poisons the soul”
In the parable of the Prodigal Son the elder brother was consumed with envy, bitterness, and self-pity. Rather than being joyful and celebrating the repentance and restoration of his younger brother, the elder brother was consumed with thoughts of how he imagined himself to have been neglected and cheated. The result was an angry and self-absorbed young man.
It has been said, and I believe it to be true, that self-pity is the worst of all human emotions. It is so selfish! The great devotional writer Oswald Chambers once wrote that “Self-pity is of the Devil!” Amen brother! Satan uses the human emotion of self-pity to turn our thoughts fully upon ourselves. He convinces us that we have been unfairly short-changed and cheated, and that we have a right to be angry and bitter about it. He then quietly and cunningly urges us brood about it. We chew on the perceived wrong like a bull dog on a bone.
And the soul slowly withers and dies. It marinates in a toxic stew of resentment and self-righteous indignation and it evolves into a mean and ugly thing. How much better it would have been for the elder brother to have joined the celebration. His doing so would have been a blessing to his little brother and it would certainly have been better for the elder brother himself. Rather than making himself a miserable and lonely outcast, he would have instead been right in the middle of the joy and festivities.
Yes, self-pity poisons the soul. It is indeed the worst of all human emotions. It is petty and small and so terribly pathetic. I encourage you to avoid giving in to self-pity. It’s bad for your soul.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 