﻿Hey everybody this is Steve, and I once ran out of gas.
Ok, that’s a lie, I’ve actually run out of gas two or three times in my life.
I can’t recall for sure because it’s embarrassing and I’ve worked hard to suppress the memory.
I mean, have you ever thought about how hard it is to run out of gas in a modern car?
For days and days, I saw the light flashing on the dashboard, warning me that the tank was almost
empty, and I just ignored it. I figured I could always take
care of the problem later. I mean, I had stuff to do.
I had to go to school. I had to go to work. I had to run errands.
I figured there was always time to fill up my gas tank later.
That is, until my car came to a sputtering, horrifying stop.
I had to walk about thirty minutes to the nearest gas station, fill up a container
with gas, and then lug it another thirty minutes back to my stranded car.
It was a nightmare. Did I mention that I was giving a sweet
old professor a ride and that he sat patiently in the car and waited for me until I got back?
And, as embarrassing as that was, I ran out of gas again after that.
At least once. Maybe twice. I don’t know. Like I said,
I’ve blocked out the memories. The point is: I needed to give my car
fuel before I could successfully give someone else a ride.
Does the same apply in our lives as Christians?
Do we need to prioritize our own spiritual health so we can interact with others in a healthy and
Christ-centered way? Or is this selfish?
After all, the call of the Gospel is to love completely and selflessly.
To put God and neighbor before myself at all costs.
[TITLE] As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life
for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) And, of course, the Lord showed us that
on the Cross. So, it seems pretty obvious… self-care
shouldn’t be a thing Christians do. No matter how much it hurts us, even if it
means sacrificing our own lives and everything we own, we shouldn’t worry about ourselves.
We should just try to take care of others. Or should we?
As we covered back in episode #77, each of us needs to realize that
we are the first among sinners. Each of us needs a lot of work to develop
a spiritually healthy heart and a right relationship with God.
Taking time for personal prayer and fasting is a big part of that.
But again, I want to push on that question. Is taking time for your own health, whether
spiritual or otherwise, selfish? Does that contradict our goal of sacrificing
ourselves and everything we have for others? Well, no. For two reasons.
And my terrible experience running out of gas can help make this clear.
First, when we think about self-care as Christians,
we need to remember why we’re doing it. People may fear that some kind of self-care is
unchristian because it’s focused on helping ourselves instead of others.
But let’s be clear. We need to differentiate between self-care and self-indulgence.
Take my car for example. Stopping for gas is necessary.
Changing the oil in my car is necessary. If I don’t do these things, my car will
stop working, and maybe even break down completely...
And if that happens, then I won’t be able to do anything with the car.
No matter how unselfish it is. In order to do anything unselfish with
my car, I need to keep the gas tank full. I need to care for it.
But self-indulgence is different. That’s more like wanting neon lights,
a sweet spoiler, and a loud exhaust that draws attention.
These are things that my car doesn’t need, but are things
that I may want to make me feel special. Of course, if I forget to put gas in the car,
it doesn’t matter how tricked out and awesome my car looks, it still won’t run -
In order to work, the car needs gas - not a spoiler.
But of course, we’re not really talking about cars.
There are things that we need to do, as people, to make sure that we have fuel in our tanks.
Things that give us the strength and the ability to be available to care for others.
Imagine if you needed to pick up your grandma from the airport, and I said,
***DRESSED UP** “Here, use my car.”
“It’s totally out of gas and doesn’t run, but it’s got a sweet subwoofer system.
“I think she’ll really like the music.” Well...that’s useless.
And, just like I need to keep gas in the car so that you can use it,
I need to stay fueled in my heart so that I can be available with enough
spiritual energy to care for you, my neighbor.
That’s the “why,” the purpose we need to keep in mind when thinking about Christian self-care.
But, even more than this, the second reason self-care
is an important part of the Christian life is that it’s the example Jesus set for us.
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for every single human being who
ever lived and ever will live: He became human and died on the Cross.
And He also provided for others in other amazing ways, like healing diseases and
raising people from the dead. But that’s not all He did.
He also went off on His own to pray and fast. To fuel up for making sacrifices for others.
Actually, that’s the first thing Jesus did after His baptism.
Jesus took time to be alone with His Father. He took time for private prayer and fasting.
It wasn’t just all public ministry all the time.
After St John baptized Him, Jesus didn’t immediately get to work
healing, helping, and dying for others. He went into the wilderness for 40 days,
by Himself, to be with the Father…. Was that a selfish move for a guy who has
the power to work miracles and save all of humanity from death?
Should he have spent those 40 days healing people rather than vacationing in the wilderness?
And maybe the way we ask the question is part of the problem.
Because, in pop culture, self-care can have a self-indulgent feel to it.
It’s not really about taking care of yourself.
Instead, it’s what Tom and Donna did on Park & Rec.
It’s all about Treat-Yo’-Self. Which really isn’t self-care. It’s
self-indulgence. ***SPLIT SCREEN***
Clothes: treat yo’self. Massages: treat yo’self.
Fine leather goods: treat yo’self. It’s the best day of the year!
Sure, it was a little overdone on “Parks & Rec,” but treating yourself to nice stuff
and luxury experiences seems to be how a lot of people approach self-care.
It’s about bubble baths and facials, retail therapy and nice restaurants...it’s not the
hard work of getting (and staying) healthy. Because Jesus wasn’t on vacation during those
40 days in the wilderness. He wasn’t getting massages and
exfoliating His face. (Though, that does seem like
a truly great way to Treat-Yo’-Self.) But no. He was praying and fasting.
He was struggling against temptation and communing with God the Father.
And this 40 day period wasn’t the only time Jesus took time to be alone.
Before He went to find and call His disciples to follow Him,
Jesus stayed up the whole night praying. And later, His disciples found themselves in
two different situations where they were stuck on a boat in the middle of a dangerous storm.
The first time, Jesus just napped on the boat!
And the second time, He wasn’t even on the boat with the disciples;
He had stayed on the shore to pray! In Luke’s Gospel account in particular,
we find Jesus doing this a lot. Jesus frequently goes off on His own,
even when others want His help! [TITLE] For example, in Luke chapter 5,
we read that, “now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to
hear Him and to be cured of their diseases. But He would withdraw to deserted places
and pray.” Luke 5:15-16