Posts Tagged: firefighters

“JESUS’ SELF-CARE”

On June 21, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

A friend who reads this blog always sends me appreciative, thoughtful, and thought-provoking e mails.  Concerning my post about loving and respecting God, others, all of creation, and myself, he noted how tricky it is to balance these things.  I absolutely agree.

My reply to his e mail was as follows:

“Dear James,

Yes, indeed!  It is tricky—perhaps even beyond tricky!  I most certainly have not made a good start on this.

In this regard (as in all others), Jesus our LORD is our redeemer, example, guide, friend, and forgiver.

I think I feel another blog post coming on (although it could be just a stomach bug) about how Jesus took care of himself.  I had never thought about that until your e mail.  Thanks!”

Generally, it is better to think before you speak or act, and I do try to do that (with varying degrees of success).  However, sometimes I think of things after I have spoken or written something.  After I had written the bit about Jesus being our example, I suddenly realized that I had never thought of Jesus as an example of balanced self-care.  Never!

I had thought about Jesus being an example of caring for others and for loving God, but had never considered that Jesus also took appropriate care of himself as well.

Jesus rested when he was tired.  He could even sleep in a no-doubt cramped boat in the middle of a storm (Matthew 8:24).

Jesus ate when he was hungry  (Luke 10:38-42).  Indeed, many of Jesus’ teachings were given while he was enjoying a meal with someone or a group.

Jesus reached out for companionship (Mark 14:32-34).

Jesus sometimes spoke up when he felt that he or those around him were being treated unfairly (Mark 14:48-49; Luke 18:15-17).

Now, of course self-care had its limits with Jesus, as indeed it should for all of us.  Jesus spoke of giving up his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).  For each of us, self-care must be balanced by a willingness for self-sacrifice.  There are times when we all need to be willing to risk everything for someone else.  And yet, our basic instinct must be not self-preservation, but rather self-care.  Only if we are taking appropriately good care of ourselves are we able to sacrifice ourselves.  A firefighter, in order to have a shot at saving others, must be in good shape physically and mentally.  Only so can she risk her life in order to save the life of another.

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