When You Are Just Sick Of Self

I want to thank you all for putting up with my pouty behavior this week. You didn't know you'd been invited to a pity party, did you? And a party without cake is no party at all.

I live in a house full of men that just don't get it. And this weekend, the nest is full of them. But honestly, it's the fact that they don't get it and cannot  commiserate with me that I need most of all.

My son, John, is here this weekend. Ah, a fresh victim! I can pick his brain for a thousand and one design choices and complain afresh at how slowly these things are progressing.

"Wow, I think they have a song for all of your problems," he tells me.

"They do?" I ask.

I hear my eldest son chuckle, because he knows where this is going and I do not.

"Yeah. Weird Al Yankovic wrote it. It's called 'First World Problems'. "

And then, because they are the generation that is constantly plugged in, they instantly shared the video with me and we all had a good laugh.

If you need a good laugh today, you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A

It is so true. My problems are First World Problems. Ugh.

I'm so sick of my self.

Do you ever get that way?

Perhaps it's because self and I have been spending way too much time together. But let me tell you, self is okay to be with on good days, but there are times when self is down right ugly. She is mean. She is nasty. She is judgmental. She is pouty. She is whiny.

There is no making her happy.

This weekend, the Spirit whispered to me "Listen here, you fool, you are blessed."

I'm complaining because my new, very expensive windows are not installed? There are people who cannot afford new windows. There are people who live with no windows.

I'm dissatisfied with my house? Oh, how quickly we forget. Do you remember living in a 900 square foot cottage with a husband, two boys, a cat, and a labrador retriever puppy...for 10 years?! Back then, you only dreamed of living in a house this big!

You are upset because your garden is full of weeds? Get out there and weed them, then, and stop complaining!

This week's Bible study wasn't as special as you thought it would be? There are Christians being persecuted for their faith, fleeing their homes and their countries. God forgive us, there are babies washing up on the shore.

It's high time you got over your self.

And isn't that just the perfect time?

Paul expressed it so perfectly.

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.....What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Romans 7:14-15, 24-25

The Law and the Gospel. That's it, in a nutshell. The Law shows me my sin. The Gospel shows me my savior.

My husband and I often find ourselves confessing to each other.

"I must be a terrible Christian because _________," and then we fill in the blank with our sin.

And yet, it is that ugly blank of sin that drives us to the cross again and again.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said "When Christ calls a man, he bids him 'Come and die.' "

This week, I needed someone to save me from my self. Death to self. Life in Jesus.

It's what I need every day.

A Savior.