Do you ever feel like you’re running on fumes, just trying to get through another day, exhausted from your responsibilities?
Maybe you’re feeling desperate for a day off, a vacation, or a night at home to binge-watch Netflix and eat away the stress of life.
I’ve been there.
Worn out, overwhelmed, and in serious need of rest.
The world is big on self-care, so in an attempt to recharge from my exhaustion, I’d take a break for a coffee date with a friend, read a fiction novel, or take a day trip. The problem is, whenever I came back from whatever self-care I indulged in, I was always thrown right back into the very thing I needed a break from in the first place.
The self-care didn’t fix the problem or make it so I handled it better, it was simply a temporary escape from my life.
If you’ve tried the world’s version of self-care and found that it was really only an escape from reality, satisfying a craving, or treating yourself, only to be thrown back into whatever you needed a break from in the first place just as stressed out and overwhelmed as before, you’re not alone.
As Christians, our goal in self-care is not to escape our life, it’s to live our life better. To have joy, perseverance, and a really deeply rooted relationship with God. Finding a sustainable rhythm in your life, and having a community that surrounds you when you need it.
Things the world is not pursuing.
In this series, we’re looking at five ways we can practice self-care as a Christian.
In the last videos, we talked about Sabbath and Scripture as a means of self-care, and today, we’re talking about Service.
SERVICE
Giving our time, energy, and efforts to serving others can be an act of self-care.
Maybe it doesn’t initially seem like it when you’re tired and burned out. When all you want to do is rest. But when we pour out our time and energy for someone else’s benefit, our mental state is changed and God does something spiritual in us.
We realize how blessed we are when we serve others. When we open our home or serve in the church, or give up our time, we are reminded of what we have.
It shifts our mind from what we lack to all that God has blessed us with. Our mind is changed about our circumstances, even as we give our time and energy.
God also does something spiritual in us.
Proverbs 19:17 – “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Hebrews 6:10 – “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
Matthew 23:11 – “The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
There are spiritual gains to our service.
God rewards. God remembers. God exalts. God does a spiritual filling up in us as we pour out.
Maybe you need to test this out in your own life to see how much God fills you up and shifts your mindset as you serve.
Jesus is our example of this.
As He instructed His disciples to serve each other, He washed their feet. He helped them, served them, and died for them.
He showed radical service to everyone. The rich, the poor, His friends, His betrayers, and even His mother as He died on the cross.
Clearly service is aligned with the life we are called to live as believers.
As we serve, our minds are shifted from all that we lack to the blessings that we have and we are filled up by God in a way that makes it all self-care.
Looking for more? Check out the latest blog posts below!
- How to Read the Bible and Actually Understand It
- How to Practice Self-Care as a Christian | Part Five: Gratitude
- How to Practice Self-Care as a Christian | Part Four: Community Support
- How to Practice Self-Care as a Christian | Part Three: Service
- How to Practice Self-Care as a Christian | Part Two: Scripture
