BIBLE STUDY ON SELF-CARE:
Pride Is The Driving Force When Self-Care Crosses Over Into self-Indulgence
A wise Theologian once said, "We have to come to the end of ourselves." How true!
The subject of self-care is somewhat of a complicated one for believers and is readily misunderstood. We must care for ourselves through nourishment, hydration, sleep, hygiene, clothing and shelter but notwithstanding, those basic needs in which we all must attend, self-care doesn’t need to and should not encompass every aspect of daily life; our caring for our health and hygiene does not have to come to the point of over indulgence. We have to know where to draw the line.
But even in those everyday things, He supplies what we need and we are afforded the privilege of relying on Him for those things, as we read in Matthew 6:25-34.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:23-26)
Furthermore, we are to do everything with Him and through Him, as we read in John 15:5. Therefore, even in these things, we can and should rely on HIM!
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Self care, however, can sometimes overshadow God's first priority role in our lives. For instance, when it comes to making choices and everyday decisions, we can allow the Holy Spirit indwelling to guide us into the best course of action. Everyone strives to avoid making mistakes as much as possible and when we seek the Lord and His Counsel, we are getting THE correct answer to our question; He will not lead us astray. The fact is, God can take far better care of us than we ever could, but only if we let Him:
"But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)
We tend to use the excuse of self care when it comes to things that actually belong to God, when we really ought to let God be God in our lives; trusting Him for our natural appeal before others:
"You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.” (1Corinthians 7:23-24)
Quite plainly God is saying that we should not be taking care of everything in our lives, that leaves Him out and He is supposed to be our KING; our leader in everything.
It’s really both that complicated and that simple, as in caring for our bodies it's easy to unwittingly get lost in the self, and that causes complication in our lives, but it can be so simple if we would only surrender and trust God, and let Him have more control in this area.
Self care can readily spill over into vanity.
If we are not careful, we may one day find that taking self care to the extreme leads us down a road of distraction. This countenance takes us down a path that is not in God’s Will for any of us and these works of the flesh only spark a deeper sinking into the delusion of self-importance and further distorts our focus and misaligns our priorities.
For the secular world, works of the flesh are known as accomplishments, efforts, acts of self-improvements, independence, autonomy: all personal attributes the secular world embraces and promotes.
Furthermore, if Christ is left out, life may become all about that all-important ego boost, which is not pleasing to our Lord, Who Commands to come first in our lives, and it is for our own good, and He even works things out for our good:
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 30:30-31)
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Furthermore, it seems the notion of self-care is especially prevalent today, for those who have fallen for Satan’s lie, ‘love is love,’ now that takes self-indulgence to a whole new level!)
But, the truth is they are wasting their energy because no amount of effort and attention given to the body could ever fulfill them the way they think it will. And they end up feeling even more empty inside. It’s only when we decrease and God increases in our lives that we can fully become the person we were meant to become.
When we give ourselves over to the control of God’s Spirit, we begin to grasp His Superior Ways enough to know that unless we abide in Him, we can do nothing to pleases Him and remain helpless, deluded sinners.
The bottom line is we cannot fill ourselves up with ourselves, it just simply cannot and does not work. It only leads to a deeper sense of loneliness, dissatisfaction, frustration and depression (I remember those days well).
God designed us to be more satisfied with giving than receiving, and with reaching outward, as opposed to turning inward; to love others as self and to serve, is the only way we can reach that sense of satisfaction, in which we all yearn…..
Modern-day spiritual gurus will tell their followers that they need to be their ‘authentic self,’ but unless that authenticity follows becoming a new creature in Christ, it will be based in self-centered, natural human propensities, which are fundamentally concerned with self-promotion and gain. They also teach to put ourselves first; we matter more than anyone else. One of them actually said that if we sacrifice ourselves for someone else that means that person is stealing from us! The truth is when we do things without God, we are stealing from Him, because everything belongs to Him.
Moreover, this convoluted perspective can result from teachings that ignore the Truth of Scripture:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17)
The world is wrapped up in personal autonomy; everyone focused on making their dreams come true without so much as considering what God has to say about what they should do or being in Christ, as they ought.
But Christians were called to seek and rely on the LORD.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
NKJV