Seven Ways to Make Yourself Miseable

(This post originally can be seen here.) 

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

Living in Whiting for the past 17 years I have run across some really miserable people. People how really lost their joy. As believers we should be modeling “joy in the journey.” But I am afraid that there are way too many Christians who are miserable.

Elizabeth Elliot, wife of martyred missionary, Jim Elliot, gave this list of seven ways to make yourself miserable:

1. Count your troubles, name them one by one – at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.

2. Worry every day about something. Don’t let yourself get out of practice.

3. Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.

4. Make it your business to find out what the Jones are buying this year and where they are going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan.

5. Stay away from absolutes. It’s what’s right for YOU that matters. Be your own person and don’t allow yourself to get hung up on what others expect of you.

6. Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people’s. You have your life to live, they have theirs.

7. Don’t fall into any compassion traps – the sort of situation where people can walk all over you. If you get too involved in other people’s troubles, you may neglect your own.

(Adapted from Lists to Live By – The Second Collection – Multnomah Publishing)

Now I know that you know that this is not the way God intended you to live life. Bottom line is that if you live this way you will REALLY be miserable. Choose today to allow Christ to live HIS life through you and guess what – rather than repel people away from you – people will be drawn to you.

What are some of the ways you have been living a miserable life? How will you choose to live differently today?

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick