You Can Be Pitiful or Powerful

You can be pitiful or powerful. You can’t be both.

John 5:1-4

Self-pity is the psychological state of mind of an

individual in perceived adverse circumstances who has not accepted the situation and does not have the confidence nor competence to cope with it.

It is characterised by a person’s belief that he or she is the victim of unfortunate circumstances and is therefore deserving of condolences. Self-pity is generally regarded as a negative emotion in that it does not generally help deal with adverse situations.

Definition of self pity

You can be pitiful or powerful.

You can’t be both.

1 LATER ON there was a Jewish festival (feast) for which Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem a pool near the Sheep Gate. This pool

in the Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porches (alcoves, colonnades, doorways). 3 In

these lay a great number of sick folk—some blind, some crippled, and some paralyzed (shriveled up)

—waiting for the bubbling up of the water.

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

4 For an angel of the Lord went down at appointed

seasons into the pool and moved and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up

of the water, stepped in was cured of whatever disease with which he was afflicted. 5 There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-

seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years.

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

6 When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about

getting well?] 7 The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it]

myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

8 Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk! 9 Instantly the man

became well and recovered his strength and picked up his bed and walked. But that happened on the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and you

have no right to pick up your bed [it is not lawful].

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

11 He answered them, The Man Who healed me

and gave me back my strength, He Himself said to me, Pick up your bed and walk! 12 They asked

him, Who is the Man Who told you, Pick up your bed and walk? 13 Now the invalid who had been

healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had quietly gone away [had passed on unnoticed],

since there was a crowd in the place.

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

14 Afterward, when Jesus found him in the temple,

He said to him, See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.

John 5:1-14 (AMP)

“Are you really in earnest about getting well” “Get

up! Pick up your bed and walk!”

JESUS

You can be pitiful or powerful. You can’t be both.

Three causes of self-pity

Job 19:21 (MSG)

21 "Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me. God has come down hard on me!

1. Obsession with yourself.

Romans 12:3 (NIV)

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you

ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith

God has given you.

2. Curse of comparisons

1 Samuel 22:8 (NIV)

8 Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about

me ….

3. Poor understanding of how to handle difficulty and problems



Freedom from self-pity

“Are you really in earnest about getting well” “Get up” “Pick up your mat and walk” “Instantly the man became well and recovered

his strength” “… Jesus found him in the temple” “Stop sinning or something worse may happen

to you.”

Freedom



Spiritual maturity is being able to pray "Lord use me" and not pout over the feeling that someone

"used you.“

You can be pitiful or powerful.You can’t be both.