How should I practice self-care as a follower of Jesus?
Mark 12:30“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’”
Romans 6:13Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
Loving God is our highest purpose and joy. Doing that fully is more than desire and fulfillment, or study and wisdom, or willpower and godly behavior. It is all those things and more—our whole selves—united in loving him. When we care for each of these facets of ourselves, our love can more easily translate into action.
Genesis 2:2On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.
Psalm 127:2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Proverbs 10:5A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.
Proverbs 21:25Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin, for their hands refuse to work.
Mark 4:38-40Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Colossians 3:23Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people
We love God with our bodies through a healthy balance of work and rest. Laziness causes unnecessary hardship and wasted opportunities, and it does not honor God. Workaholism is just as dangerous. There are times when a “harvest” is at hand and we may need to work harder than usual, but that should be only for a season, and not become our lifestyle. Busyness that is frantic, anxious, and fearful is not what Jesus modeled for us. Jesus made rest a priority. He was not afraid of the storm, nor was he worrying about what he had to do when he reached the shore. Rest is a good gift from God—something modeled for us from the beginning of creation—and we serve God best when we accept that gift.
Psalm 119:11I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
2 Timothy 3:16-17All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Knowledge frames the way we think, guides our actions, and influences our hearts. We need the right kind of knowledge, the kind that imparts life. God’s Word helps us love him, others, and ourselves as he intended.
Isaiah 26:3You [the Lord] will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Lamentations 3:20-24I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
Philippians 3:13-14Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 4:8Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Hebrews 12:1-2Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Anxious and depressive thoughts will come. Tempting and sinful thoughts will come. Merely trying to resist them isn’t enough; we need to replace them with something else. Peace isn’t the absence of stress or temptation—Jesus himself experienced immense stress and temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Instead, peace is the presence of trust and confidence in God. When we praise him, thank him, and remind ourselves of the hope we have in him in light of Scripture’s truth, we reframe our fears and temptations in the light of his goodness.
1 Samuel 16:7The Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Proverbs 4:23Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 27:19As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.
Our deepest thoughts, emotions, and desires set the course for our lives. When we neglect to guard and care for our hearts, we become easy victims of sin and its corruption.
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
Matthew 6:21“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Matthew 6:24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
1 Thessalonians 2:4Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.
Wealth, earthly pleasure, a successful career, human approval—each of these pursuits and many others, though not evil in themselves, can become an idol that takes God’s place in our hearts.
Matthew 13:22“The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Sometimes, unhealthy obsessions destroy our lives swiftly and violently. Other times, they wrap around our hearts like parasitic vines, relentlessly siphoning away our passion for God and choking out what is good and healthy in our lives.
Psalm 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Proverbs 20:9Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart; I am pure and free from sin”?
Galatians 5:22-23The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Ephesians 2:8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Philippians 1:6I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
None of us has a pure heart. We are all touched by greed, lust, pride, envy, anger, laziness, and self-indulgence. All these sins and many more taint us. That’s why God sent his Son. Jesus saves us from sin’s punishment, and one day he will save us from sin’s power. Self-care for our hearts and souls means walking in step with his leading, growing in the fruit of the Spirit. One day, God’s work in our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies will be completed, and we will enjoy a perfect eternity with him—totally free from sin!
Ephesians 5:18-20Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:16Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
Worship as a community leads our hearts to love God, and it is a powerful guard against greed, temptations, and addiction. Reminding ourselves of God’s goodness and thanking him for all he has done turns our hearts to him and fills our souls with joy.
Proverbs 17:17A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.
Matthew 22:39“A second [law] is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
1 Corinthians 12:18-27Our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. . . . All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
2 Corinthians 7:6God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.
Hebrews 10:25Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Healthy relationships are a critical part of self-care. When we are showing love to others, sharing in life together with them, we share God’s blessings with one another.
Deuteronomy 4:29“From there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.”
Psalm 23:1-4The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
John 15:5-15“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. . . . I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”
1 Peter 5:7Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
1 John 3:1See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
Our most essential relationship is our relationship with God. He is our Savior and our Lord, our Father and our Friend. He is the true Vine that nourishes our very souls through our connection with him. No matter what sort of suffering we experience, he is our Good Shepherd who cares for us.
Exodus 18:17-23“This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. Now listen to me. . . . Let the leaders decide the smaller matters themselves. They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you. If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.”
Luke 4:42-43Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.”
1 Corinthians 6:12-13You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
Self-care involves setting boundaries—around our workload, around what we allow ourselves to do, even around certain people. In order to say “yes” to the responsibilities God is calling us to, we have to learn to say no to the things that hinder or distract us.
Matthew 16:1-4One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. He replied, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times! Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus left them and went away.
Luke 23:8-9Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer.
Jesus set boundaries with toxic people. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod had all heard (and ignored) John the Baptist’s message of repentance. They had all heard the stories of Jesus’ miracles, and most had heard his direct teaching themselves. They already had their signs. When they asked Jesus for a sign, it wasn’t because they wanted their faith to be confirmed. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to challenge Jesus, and Herod just wanted to see a magic trick. Jesus knew his time was better spent with people who would listen to what he had to say. Jesus identified and set boundaries with toxic people. We need to do the same.
Matthew 11:18-19“John [the Baptist] didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”
People have a wide range of conflicting standards. John the Baptist’s ministry focused on calling sinners to repentance, and his disciplined life gave him credibility. Jesus’ ministry also focused on calling sinners to repentance—even the people society had written off—so he ate meals with hated sinners. John and Jesus had different approaches, yet both were fulfilling God’s purpose. Often, our priorities and our methods of self-care will differ from someone else’s, but these differences don’t necessarily signal that something is wrong.
Luke 16:10“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
Self-care is a discipline. We might start small, like a runner slowly jogging a first mile after recovering from an injury. But over time we can increase the difficulty—and the benefits. A professional runner trains daily, stretches to avoid injury, follows a strict diet, purchases quality shoes, and follows many other wise practices. By themselves, each of these disciplines might seem small. But together, they equip the runner to be healthy and ready to run. In the same way, self-care is practiced in the little, daily things we do to steward heart, mind, body, and soul.
