Self Care: What Does the Bible Say?

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Happy Monday my friends! Today I am sharing about what the Bible has to say regarding the topic of self care. I chose to read about it from the perspective of Jesus’ life in the book of Matthew.

While there are many verses scattered throughout the Bible regarding self care, I was excited to see how many times Jesus gives us an example of this in His own life. Who better could we learn from than Jesus?

Self-Care Mini Series

If you missed my first post in this series, make sure to start here.

Self care can so easily become the “next thing” that consumes us. However, I hope that through these verses we can see that we must cut through cultural expectations and rely on God’s promises as we seek to find ways to implement self care and keep our focus on Him.

The Life of Jesus

As I read through the book of Matthew I kept coming back to the fact that Jesus led a life of burden. Obviously His spiritual role would have been taxing, however, as man He was also continually burdened to meet others’ needs. How many times do we read where Jesus is asked to do something for someone? To heal someone. To come teach. To provide. To prove His worth.

The Bible says that Jesus was fully God and fully man. He felt the same tensions that we feel as we endure others’ expectations and demands. So today I want to break the book of Matthew down into a few categories to see how Jesus handled self-care.

Lay the Foundation

First, I want to lay the foundation for why self care is important. Many people struggle with this idea thinking that it is selfish or ungodly. However, as believers, we have been commissioned to serve a purpose.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Matthew 5:13

Matthew 5 speaks to our need to be continually restored in our faith and purpose. We are here to be a light to the world! So this leads me to my first point: We must be spiritually fed in order to accomplish our purposes.

Our number 1 self care activity should be to feed our souls with the Word. The Bible is the living Word and gives us strength and power to face trials, set backs and burdens.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6: 25-34 is a powerful passage for those who struggle with anxiety.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendorwas dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:25-33

The last verse of this passage so quickly sums up the foundational activity of self care. “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.” Why? Because then all of the necessities of life are freely given! Food, drink, clothing, reassurance of safety and care. These things are part of God’s blessing to those who seek His kingdom.

So how do we seek His kingdom? We get into the Word! I think so many times we overcomplicate Christianity. It is much simpler than we make it. Read God’s Word and we will have a lamp unto our feet to guide us through hard times. Start here, in God’s word, with self care to be sure that you have a firm foundation.

Physiological Needs are Important

The next topic of self care addresses our physiological needs. While the passage in Matthew 6 clearly states that God will provide for our physical needs, we are also shown how to be intentional about it personally.

The Bible talks about physiological needs many times throughout scripture. The feeding of the 5,000 was an amazing miracle where Jesus multiplied 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to satiate the hunger of over 5,000 people in Matthew 14.

Along Jesus’ journeys it is recorded that he stopped to rest and ensured His followers physical needs were taken care of on many occasions.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

– Matthew 15:32

In addition, 1 Corinthians 6 tells us that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit which should be cared for in honor of the God who created you. However, often our culture creates unrealistic expectations of what this means.

At any point in the Bible have we read that our physiological needs must be met by constant dieting, intense workouts or unrealistic physical appearances? No! Heavens no. But it does say that we should eat and drink to have strength, rest when we are weary, and remember that we are honoring God when we care for our bodies.

Taking Time for Solitude

The next area of self care I want to look at is that of social rest. Solitude is something that can refresh the soul, refocus our minds, and provide us with tools to cut through the noise of society.

In Matthew 6 and Matthew 14 we see specific examples of Jesus seeking solitude. He used that time to pray and to be refreshed by communing with God.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Notice that Jesus didn’t seek solitude idly. He did it with intention and purpose to pray specifically. Intentionally seeking solitude and time away from others is restorative when done with the purpose of seeking God in prayer.

Next Week

This topic quickly became one that I knew would be something that we would need to digest slowly. It is so counter-cultural to view self-care from this perspective. So for this week I will stop here and let you consider some of the points I’ve made. Take time to read the scripture for yourself and see what areas you need to strengthen personally.

Next week I’ll finish this mini-series by talking about when we should ask for help, as well as what the main point of self-care is from a Biblical perspective. Stay tuned! {UPDATED: Post 3 can be found here.}

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Be blessed my friends,