It seems to me that most of us have a tendency towards martyrdom. Not the real, healthy God-centred kind of martyrdom that can encourage and inspire, but the unhealthy me-centred kind that wallows, distracts and discourages. We’re reading Tim Chester’s “You Can Change” in the staff team at the moment and came across this excellent perspective last week (in the grey box, not on the T-shirt!)…
“One of my recurrent sins is self-pity. If someone treats me badly, I get in a huff. If something goes wrong, I’m grumpy. I can just wake up in a black mood. I act as if I’m all that matters in my life; as if I’m the axis on which my world spins. But I’m not. I was made to glorify God and enjoy him forever… there’s such freedom in accepting this is God’s world, not mine. I’m grumpy because things aren’t going my way. But I’ve no right and no need to expect them to go my way. It’s enough to know that they’re going God’s way and his ways are good.” (page 117)
How cool is that?! I love that last sentence! What a freeing, God-glorifying perspective! Now, to live it out!
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