Slowing down & taking care of yourself: Part 1 — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

I’ve travelled quite a lot in planes over the years, so it’s no novelty anymore to fly. But I remember the first time I flew, listening to the safety measures and the drill, which are obligatory now on all air travel. You listen there and watched the folk go through the routine. The message was quite clear that if there was an emergency and the oxygen mask had to be fitted, what we were told was fit your own mask first and then help someone else in that particular order.

Don’t try to help the person next to you, but fix yourself first. Now I had to think about that, and then it struck me. If I’m not breathing properly, if there’s a problem, I can’t really help anyone else, even if I wanted to.

It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? We need to take care of ourselves before we can help anyone else. Now, as you think about that, I want to talk about that today, does that sound selfish and wrong?

Taking care of yourself first, in order to help others

Think about this. How well do you take care of yourself? Now? Many of us grew up being told of, you know, the fact that that you shouldn’t think these evil thoughts, self-centered thoughts. Adults used to say to children, Don’t be selfish. You’ve got to always think about other people. Now, yes, it’s important, of course, and not to be selfish. Learning not to be self-centered is very important. I’m sure that you understand that.

And much evil comes from this exclusive self-love, but I think there is a degree that in where that can be misunderstood. Self-love can be misunderstood. Now consider if you, when you were a child, how you were taught to care for things that were given to you. For example, as a child growing up, you might have been given some clothes or toys or a new bicycle.

Or tools, for example, most of us grew up in houses where there was a dad who wanted us not to misuse the tools that he had perhaps in his shed or the garage. He just didn’t lose or leave these tools around because we were supposed to take care of them. We were not supposed to lend them to anyone. Why? Because that person could mistreat them or even lose them.

So even if we had, for example, some tool of our own, we’re expected to take care of it. It wouldn’t be very acceptable to say, look, it’s my hammer here, I can leave it out in the rain if I want to. The same with clothes, we, you know, expected to look after our clothes so that they could be worn again.

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So what we were being taught, I guess, as children was to appreciate those things and not to misuse them. Now I don’t think that’s being selfish, it’s just being prudent and being careful.

Selfishness vs self-care

I love the way you know that the Bible helps us in everyday life, and, and I’m looking at this unusual passage. There’s a passage written by the apostle John in the New Testament. He’s got three letters known as John 1, 2 and 3, and this is towards the end of the New Testament. And in John’s third letter, 1 John 3, he writes to his friend Gaius, who was well known and highly respected leader in the church. Gaius was a man who welcomed people into his home.

And here the apostle John says in 1 John 3, Dear friend, I pray that all goes well for you. I hope that you are as strong in body as I know you are in spirit.

When I saw that, I thought, what a tremendous message. Here John, that great man of God, was, was concerned for his friend. It’s really like saying as we would today, how are you? How are you feeling today?

And when someone says that and really means it, they, it’s really good, isn’t it, to know that someone really cares. And here’s the word of God. One friend saying to another, I do pray that all goes well for you. I hope that you’re as strong in body as I know you are in spirit.

And so the question is, do you take good care of yourself?

Now it says in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 6, your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you, so use your body to honour God. In today’s English, I guess we’d say, why don’t you live a balanced life?

How often we feel that work, for example, is so important, a politician failed to get preselected. But he wisely said, no man ever said on his deathbed, I wish I had spent more time in the office. So it’s all about a balanced life, and I want to take this a step further again tomorrow.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, we do acknowledge sometimes we’ve just got to stop, and we take care of important things, including ourselves. Bless us, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Slowing down & taking care of yourself: Part 2 — Morning Devotions

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