As a professing Christian I should have my Creator at the forefront of my heart and mind. Second in importance is my family, then everyone else I come in contact with during the day. Last on the list of priorities comes self, but taking care of myself is still a very important thing to do.
Getting our priorities in the correct order is vital for our own happiness and for our effectiveness as children of God. At my Sunday school we sang this song:
J-O-Y, J-O-Y, surely this must mean
Jesus first, yourself last and others in between.
Putting yourself last on the list doesn’t mean neglecting yourself – that would be an insult to the grace and the gift of God. God gave me to myself, and oh, what a gift! How could I ever replace or equal it? There is only one of me, and I am the only me I will ever have. This is my life: I am obligated to appreciate it, embrace it and use it to the fullest extent.
“I am fearfully and wonderfully made”, David observed. In this confession we see a totally appropriate and beautiful appreciation for God’s creation within self. While we humble ourselves before God and put others before ourselves there’s no reason for any self-loathing or neglect. Anyway, we’re stuck with ourselves for anything up to a hundred years in this world, and then endlessly in the world to come: why not make the absolute best of it?
AN EQUATION OF LOVE
Jesus told his disciples, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. We could see this command as an equation. The sum or the product of what you see on one side of the word “as” is equal to that on the other side. If it were not Jesus would have said something like “You must love others much more than you love yourself”. He didn’t mean that we should tell ourselves what wonderful human beings we are, especially if we aren’t, but that just as we care for ourselves by feeding ourselves, cleaning ourselves and doing what makes us feel good and prospers us – so we should do for others. Turning the equation around, we should take care of ourselves just as we are to take care of others. Self-flagellation, self-loathing and self-neglect are not root Christian or Judean concepts at all – they come from elsewhere and have no place in the life of one made in the image of God.
ACCEPTING THE GIFT
When I say that we are to love ourselves, I don’t at all mean that we puff ourselves up and tell ourselves, “Hey, I’m a really great person! I’m a really good-looking guy and those other people in my life need to be bowing down to me and appreciating just how wonderful I am!” No, self-love is rather a conscious acceptance of the fact that I am indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a unique and amazing creation of a unique and incredible God. How can I maintain and optimize my own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual integrity and strength?
BODY
My body, a machine beyond the ability of any scientist to explain, can only be the creation of a supreme genius: I need to take care of it. I only have one in this world so I should treat it with great respect. I need to feed it good things which will keep it healthy. I need to exercise it and keep it in good condition. I must not put harmful and destructive things into it like drugs or too much alcohol. I need to avoid getting into intimate physical relationships with people who have no respect for God or HIs world, no self-respect and no respect for others.
MIND
My mind, the interface between the physical world and my spirit, is an ocean of potential. I could do so many good things with it and in it. I can store almost endless memories and ideas. I can create incredible things beginning there. I can initiate acts of love, worship and service from that indefinable place. I must protect this precious and unique resource with all my might. I must put a guard on my mind so that I don’t invite or allow destructive, polluting or dark images, ideas or events creeping into that amazing space which is, after all, God’s home in me.
SPIRIT
My spirit, the part of me which will never die, is precious beyond measure. How can I feed it and nurture it? Surely the answer is to feed on the words, the ways and the teachings of my God, because as Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Vitally linked to the mind, I must by my will stand vigil over all that comes in and all that flows out of my spirit.
I am created in the image of God. I should, therefore, hold myself in the utmost respect which I can muster. I bless God above all and certainly above myself. I bless others with my words and actions and love: this is my duty according to the commands of my Lord. Then lastly but certainly not without enormous importance, I take good care of what God has given me: body, mind and spirit, and I make the most of the life God has given me.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 