Do you love yourself?
Do you care for yourself?
How do you prove to yourself that you love yourself?

No, really.

Can you ask yourself these transparent questions, honestly? Self-care is not about what you possess or purchase to make your physical appearance pleasing to you, as you model from side-to-side in the mirror.

Self-care is any activity that we INTENTIONALLY do in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. It is not just physical.

If we are honest, we do not exercise the best self-care for ourselves. Just to be clear, here are a few common ways we do seem to be pretty good at, with regards to taking care of our body:

• When the temperature is cold outside, we purchase gloves and jackets to protect ourselves from extreme temperatures that will make our limbs fall off.
• If the temperature is too hot, we buy hats, umbrellas, and sun block to cover our skin from the heat of the sun, so our skin does not burn.
• If we have common cold symptoms, we will drink teas, eat soups and take over the counter medicine, to nurse our bodies back to working health conditions.
• If we are hungry we eat, thirsty we drink, and exhausted, we go to bed.

In these instances, we show concern for ourselves and protect ourselves as if we only have ONE body; but often times…

• We eat foods that deteriorate our health.
• We self-sabotage our future by allowing our own thoughts to create scenarios that are non-existent.
• We drink beverages that destroy our organs.
• We consume products that affect our lungs and make it difficult to breathe.
• We sleep around with many partners that destroy our body AND soul.
• We participate in minimal (or inconsistent) cardiovascular exercise to maintain a healthy heart and physical fitness (ohhhh, I’m talking to myself right here).
• We connect with people who mentally drain us which cause stress and anxiety, leading to doctor prescribed medications.

So do we REALLY care about ourselves?

You get ONE body; Just one.

I had a deep thought about this idea and a scripture crossed my mind that had me like…WHOAH!

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Bible says that we are the BODY of Christ – oh I’m excited as I type this. Oooh weee – can you see where we are going?

“No one ever hates his own body, but feeds it and takes care of it just like Christ does for the church because we are parts of his body.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:29-30‬ ‭CEB‬‬

If we are Jesus’ body, of COURSE He is going to take care of us. He is taking care of himself (duh). So why do we question if He’ll “come through?” Maybe it is not a question of the abilities of Christ, but more so our inconsistency and lack of commitment to Him, that has us pondering if He will supply our need.

For example; Irregardless if we are frustrated with how out of shape our physical bodies are, that frustration will not prevent us from taking care of clothing. Just because I put on some pounds from having 5 children and I’m no longer a size 4, I’m not gone get upset with my body and be like…”I’m done with you. You will NOT be clothed today!” Noooo, I’m going to do what I need to feel good about myself and be at the healthiest weight level for my age.

This holds true with Jesus. Since we are His body (that is to say the people of God), He will protect His body, cover his body, nurse back to health any portion of his body that aches. Why? Because the body performs at its peak when all parts are functioning at a high level. The body will do what the mind says. If the body functions correctly, it will listen to the voice of the mind (the mind of Christ – C’mon Jesus)!

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Remember, what you do is not for you. It is to serve the Lord Jesus as we operate as one. Everything we do is serving the Lord, feeding His body. If what you are doing is not for that purpose, you are allowing sickness, deadly poison to enter the body, and the body cannot operate in the fullness of Christ, like that.

Oh – one more thing, to remember: We are the body of Jesus, and it is the breath of God that we are breathing.