Self Care part 2
Taking care of yourself. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But that's not how it looks to me. It looks to me like people are wearing themselves out trying to get something they think they haven't got by being someone they're not. Trying to earn something that can't be earned. Trying to win the rat-race. But if you win the rat-race all you get is to be king rat. And, really, who wants that? "Whoever dies with the most toys wins" is NOT a real thing. Stuff doesn't last forever. Love does. That's your legacy. That's how you'll be remembered. And that's how you take care of yourself. Look at Ephesians 3:16, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. The true you. God's heart beating with love in your chest. Strengthened by love. So that you can love. When you think you can't hold on... hold on. To love. God's Spirit--the Holy Spirit--is the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth that God is love, and He loves you. The ultimate truth of the universe that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. We don't need to try to get anything. Because we have everything. Our heavenly Father has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in the heavenly Christ. He gave us His Son. His Spirit--the love receptor. He gave us Himself. And when we feel weak, all we have to do is look inside. Let Him strengthen us--and that's so important. David strengthened himself in the Lord. But on this side of the cross its never about what we do. Its always about what God has done. For us. In us. Through us. As us. Letting HIS strength be perfect in our weakness. Because when you try to do it yourself, I think for the most part, God will let you. Love doesn't demand His own way. When you work God will rest, right? And when you rest God will work. So what I think I'm trying to say today is that self care is really about letting your heavenly Father take care of you. Not wearing yourself out. Not trying to do everything yourself. Not trying to get anything. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love that is the gift of God is not lived from the outside-in. It is lived from the inside-out. What's inside coming out as we know and believe that its in there. The LOVE inside coming out as we let God love us to overflowing. Because, see, we don't love because we want something. That's not love. That's manipulation and control. We love because we have something to give. Something that everybody needs. Not wants. Needs. People need love. Either way--whether we know we have it, or we think we don't--Christ's love controls us. And trying to get something that you already have--trying to earn something that can't be earned--is how you rob yourself from experiencing it. That's not taking care of yourself. That's wasting the gift you've been given. But letting God strengthen you in the inner man is what equips and empowers you to truly live. To experience what you've got by giving it away. By sharing it. Taking care of yourself by taking care of others. And I think tomorrow I'm going to talk about saying, "no." But for today I want to end with saying, "yes." Saying yes to God loving you, and letting that love take care of you!