Pity Party

    Sometimes I wake up, especially on a Monday, and think no one really cares for my ministry, my teaching or my musical ministries.  After all, it's Monday.  I won't say that it is restricted to Mondays but it does occur more on that day than many of the others.  I may think I should have said something differently, or that the lesson material was prepared well enough.  When I think more about it, I realize that I am having what is called a "pity party."  This is where you think you are on a certain level in life but in reality, you are at the bottom.  Romans 12:3 says, " For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
      Romans 12 seems to automatically be focused on the first two verses and perhaps we don't think about verse number three.  I was challenged by the words, "...not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think..."  If you regard yourself at the bottom, then you don't have to be concerned about anything else.  We know, however, that in God's eyes you are at the top.  It is God that does the exalting and not man.  It is God that lifts you up and not your great teaching, preaching or singing.  First Peter 5:6 reminds us, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:"  So, in God's eyes you are lifted up.  The problem in our thinking is that we seem to think that everything in life is centered on us.  It is almost like the thinking that we are the center of the universe.  All of a sudden we realize that we are not the center and discover that the whole thing is not about us, it is about the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the One that should be exalted in each and every area of our lives.  Our focus needs to be on Christ rather than our own selves.   When you finally get to this point, your Mondays turn out much better than before.  What is the center of your life today?  Probably, many of you who are reading this are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ but sometimes you may feel down and out because of some experience that just took place in your life.  We should go back to verses one and two and make sure that we have presented ourselves on God's altar as a living sacrifice.  If we have truly done that day by day, then we won't be having days when we think we are getting cheated in our Christian life.  Praise God today for His exalting of our own selves in His way and in His timing in each and every area of our lives.  May you have a good day in the Lord as you seek to serve Him today.