What Does The Bible Say About Self Care? | Christian Counseling

"I wrote this article because I have encountered many faithful, inspiring, powerful men and women of the Lord who for some reason do not believe that caring for themselves matters to God. For years they have functioned under the belief that they were last on the list of people to care for because this was righteous or godly. Unintentionally, oftentimes, the church sends a message through its preaching and by the example of others that caring for yourself is ungodly and selfish. When this common belief is carried out it can lead to health issues, anxiety, depression, job burnout, relational distress, and much more."

Why God Cares about How You Care For Yourself
I write this article because I have encountered many faithful, inspiring, powerful men and woman of the Lord who for some reason do not believe that caring for themselves matters to God. For years, they have functioned under the belief that they were last on the list of people to care for because this what was righteous or godly. Unintentionally, often times, the church sends a message through its preaching and by the example of others that caring for yourself is ungodly and selfish. When carried out this common belief can lead to health issues, anxiety, depression, job burn out, relational distress, and much more.

Now do not get me wrong. I am not preaching to be selfish and that you are all that matters in this world. What I am trying to communicate is the idea that it is important that we understand and know that God desires for us to care for ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE BIBLE BETWEEN SELFISHNESS AND CARING FOR SELF.
It is possible to be selfless and care for oneself at the same time. I think we throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to this concept as Christians. Since we do not want to be selfish and want to be selfless, we end up not caring for ourselves at all. The enemy has been twisting scripture (which is nothing new) to defile this idea of selflessness. Which has led to Christians not caring for themselves at all. Which results in us being ineffective for God and His Kingdom.

It is important for us to understand why God wants us to do good self care.
When we read God’s Word, we have to look at it as a whole: we must grasp the text in Biblical time period it was written, measure how different it is from our current time, find the meaning in the text, grasp the text in our own time, and then apply it to our current life situation. I think often times we only do the last part. We attempt to apply a biblical concept to our life without doing the grunt work previously.

This abbreviated attempt therefore disables Christians from reading the Bible’s authentic meaning into their life. Because we as Christians have not done the grunt work on this concept in the Scriptures, it has lead to a lot of misinterpretation of the Bible as a whole on the topic of self care. Nowhere in the Bible does it command you “DO GOOD SELF CARE” in those exact words, BUT this concept is laced throughout the Old and New Testament.

It is important for us to understand how the Enemy uses Scripture against us. I hope to address both parts within this article. I hope this can aid you in your own journey with the Lord and His desire for you to care for yourself.

What Does The Bible Say About Caring For Yourself?
The Bible itself is loaded with direction and command to care for ourselves. “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life,” (The Bible, Proverbs 4:23). This scripture is stating that ABOVE ALL ELSE, we must guard ourselves. We must guard, nourish, and care for our heart because it matters to Him. He believes it is so valuable that it should be guarded above everything else.

Therefore, knowing what our heart needs and how to protect it is essential in following this Scripture. The Bible also implies that we already care for ourselves. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Luke 10:27). God implies in this verse that we care for ourselves already. The second commandment is built on the foundational principle that we already care for ourselves. It is out of our own abundance that we should love others as we love ourselves.

CAN YOU IMAGINE IF WE CARED FOR OTHERS THE WAY WE CARE FOR OURSELVES?