Care of self
One of the fundamental gifts of hanging out with hurting people is that they are asking all of the most important questions about what it means to be human.
Like, what does it mean to really take care of my self?
The Gospels record several accounts of Jesus being questioned about the greatest priority of God’s heart. Jesus emphasizes that the 1st priority of God’s heart is: “Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.
He goes on to say that His 2nd priority is just like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love your self.’ It would seem that there are not just two commands here but three. Love God. Love neighbor. Love self. Loving the “self” seems to be an implied third command.
What exactly is the self? For the purposes of this conversation, let’s simply define the “self” as the unique heart, mind, soul and strength we have each been given by God.
In order to love the self, I need to know the self. At a bare minimum, John Calvin would say that this is one of the two main things we need to know. He writes, "Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves.”
“Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.”
― David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery
Self care is not selfish. It is actually good stewardship of the humanity that we have been given for it is in our humanity that God has made us and it’s where he chooses to meet us.
I suspect that the “self help” movement emerged out of a fracture in community but Jesus has created us to be in community because that is where we flourish. Jesus established a healing community and invites us to follow his lead...to orient the community of our “self” (heart, mind, soul, strength) toward the healing community of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)...to bring our “self” under the authority of God’s benevolence, his kindness, his compassion, his wisdom, his correction, his tenderness, and his mercy.
Like, what does it mean to really take care of my self?
The Gospels record several accounts of Jesus being questioned about the greatest priority of God’s heart. Jesus emphasizes that the 1st priority of God’s heart is: “Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.
He goes on to say that His 2nd priority is just like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love your self.’ It would seem that there are not just two commands here but three. Love God. Love neighbor. Love self. Loving the “self” seems to be an implied third command.
What exactly is the self? For the purposes of this conversation, let’s simply define the “self” as the unique heart, mind, soul and strength we have each been given by God.
In order to love the self, I need to know the self. At a bare minimum, John Calvin would say that this is one of the two main things we need to know. He writes, "Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves.”
“Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.”
― David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery
Self care is not selfish. It is actually good stewardship of the humanity that we have been given for it is in our humanity that God has made us and it’s where he chooses to meet us.
I suspect that the “self help” movement emerged out of a fracture in community but Jesus has created us to be in community because that is where we flourish. Jesus established a healing community and invites us to follow his lead...to orient the community of our “self” (heart, mind, soul, strength) toward the healing community of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)...to bring our “self” under the authority of God’s benevolence, his kindness, his compassion, his wisdom, his correction, his tenderness, and his mercy.