Bible Students

Some Thoughts on Jeffery Gates’: “Self Care: A Christian Perspective”

Unfortunately, one of the most widespread problems in Christian ministry today is the lack of self care. Many Christians in general are simply unsure how to address personal self care, and this is especially true for pastors. Self care is seen as a selfish act. Because of this, many pastors end up often putting themselves down. However, self care is not selfish, but is rather taking in from Christ what He is choosing to give. It is Christ who gives freedom and rest to the Christian, but that freedom must be realized by the Christian before he or she can willingly place themself under service to another person. Even Christians can not give what they have not received. There is no biblical command to love oneself, but there is certainly a biblical inference to love oneself. The Christian is called to love others as the Christian loves themself. This does not mean to hate oneself and to love others, but to love both oneself and others. This does not mean to allow overindulgence for either of those parties, but rather to discipline and encourage both parties, one in the same. Proper self care requires acknowledgement of what the person needs and does not need. Self worth should be seen as the person is included in the sheep fold of Christ, and not based on personal merit. This self worth teaches that the person is loved and should be taken care of. God is aware of His own self worth and demands worship because of that. This is a proper view of self worth, because God is infinitely worthy. The individual is not infinitely worthy, but does need to take care of the gift of a body and a life which God has given to them. 

Taking care of the body does not mean self indulging, but instead requires discipline. In fact, failing to take part in the discipline of self care can easily result in a break down at a critical moment, such as the taking advantage of a more vulnerable member of the flock, resulting in sexual misconduct. Additionally, without the model of self care, care for others is especially difficult. Compassion and love for the self leads to compassion and love for others, because feeling and understanding that love and compassion can lead one to demonstrate it in a more real manner. Christians know what happiness feels like because of how it has been shown to them through Christ. Christ gives forgiveness and love to the Christian, and the Christian must accept and dwell on that forgiveness and love (participate in self care) in order to properly be able to give it to another person. There is a natural desire to take care of oneself, though it can be easily corrupted either into an ascetic practice of self denial or an indulgent practice of gluttony and envy. Sin, even, can be understood as a rejection of self care. Sin results in death and corruption, which destroys the body. If one is to take care of the body properly, one must show discipline in avoiding sin. Ultimately, sin is against god, but this aspect of sins’s corrupting nature on the body is quite interesting. If the Christian loved themself perfectly they would never sin, for sin always brings death, and to bring death upon oneself is to not love oneself perfectly. Overindulgence and a lack of discipline, to repeat and make clear, is not self love and is sin. Self care allows the Christian to sacrifice the immediate pleasure of sin and fulfillment in order to pursue long term satisfaction, especially in God. Christians must deny sin and look to God as the foundation for self care. Love for the self can not be divorced from love for God, for sin (a non-love for God and a choosing of something else) can not be present in true self love. Love for God and love for self go hand in hand, though are not the same. Christians can distinguish between self care and self indulgence in their own lives. Additionally, self mutilation is not self care. A proper understanding of God, self, and others will promote a better self care, which involves taking care of the gifts, body, and life God has given to the Christian.

This article was helpful for understanding what self care can be characterized by. The comparison between sin and a lack of self care was interesting. Self care can never be perfected in the presence of sin. This is not to destroy the meaning of sin (rebellion against God), but rather to show that the Christian can not love themself well while sinning, including by gluttony, lust, or any other desire not made for their consumption. This definition was certainly helpful, though I do not know how practical it would be for explaining self care to another member of the church. The words of self care are not very common in the church today, so to explain self care in the way mentioned above may hinder the normalization of self care, at least where I am now.