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How To Be Perfectly Miserable

Most of us would want to be anything but miserable.  Yet, if we are not careful, we can engage in some ways of thinking that will lead us right into misery.  Have you seen this recipe for “How to Be Perfectly Miserable” by an author unknown to me?

  1. Think about yourself.

  2. Talk about yourself.

  3. Use “I” as often as possible.

  4. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others.

  5. Listen greedily to what people say about you.

  6. Expect to be appreciated.

  7. Be suspicious.

  8. Be jealous and envious.

  9. Be sensitive to slights.

  10. Never forgive a criticism

  11. Trust no one but yourself.

  12. Insist on consideration and respect.

  13. Demand agreement with your own views on everything.

  14. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them.

  15. Never forget a service you may have rendered.

  16. Be on the lookout for a good time for yourself.

  17. Shirk your duties if you can.

  18. Do as little as possible for others.

  19. Love yourself supremely.

  20. Be selfish.

This recipe is guaranteed to be infallible. *

The way to misery is to be completely selfish – thinking only of self to the exclusion of God and others.  Selfishness leads to sin, and sin causes us to be separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and places us on the path to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

But God loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be saved and receive the gift of eternal life (John 3:16).  Jesus willingly gave His life for us so that we might live.  “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16).

God will forgive and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

There is Someone for whom to live that is greater than living for self: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).  If we live for Jesus, we will focus on glorifying Him while serving others.

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in.” -- C.S. Lewis

Won’t YOU trust and obey Christ and live for Him.  Otherwise, you will be perfectly miserable… and lost.

-- David A. Sargent

* From “How to Be Perfectly Miserable,” author unknown, as shared on www.happypublishing.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
 1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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