Ipromise with Your help not to spare myself, Lord. How loathsome this self-saving is to You is clearly indicated in the words of Jesus to Peter. When Peter said to Him, “Never, Lord! …This [the cross] shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22, NIV), Jesus turned very forcibly to His disciple and said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23, NIV). Self-pity is of Satan. I think I can see why, Lord.
Self-pity is a wall of defense around the “self” in which the self is defended against everyone—including God. If Jesus had pitied Himself, He would never have gone to the cross. If I pity myself, I will never submit to the lethal principle of God’s will and, therefore, never become the means of life to others.
Self is like Ananias keeping back part of the money he had promised to give to the Lord (Acts 5:1–2). Self is forever telling me to keep back a part of myself. It considers total dedication to God a “waste” (Mark 14:4, KJV). In the language of Jesus’ bystanders, it begs Him to come down from the cross and save Himself (Mark 15:30).
I must understand, of course, that self-pity is not the same thing as self-preservation. Accepting Jesus as my sin-bearer is self- preservation, the noblest thing I can do. Resting when I am weary and going on a vacation when I need a change are forms of self- preservation and are wise.
There is no cure for self-pity except in death—spiritual death. And spiritual death comes to the one who says yes to God in whatever He wants to do with him. It is impossible to say yes to God and pity my- self at the same time. It is my choice to make. When I say yes to Him, He responds with an almighty yes to me, and I rise from the death of crucifixion into newness of life.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Daily with the King 