Self Care?

Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it very much.

I received a question about my 4th Priority post that I’ll paraphrase like this:

“In your 4th Priority fountain analogy, you put yourself as the first bowl of the fountain that gets filled up. What’s the difference that and the popular idea of self care?”

Good question.

To answer it, think of the fountain analogy as simply expounding on the two great commandments, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NKJV).

The first bowl is me obeying the first great commandment—to love God with my whole being.

The rest of the bowls are me loving my neighbors as myself, starting with my closest neighbors (my wife and kids) and moving outward.

So the short answer is, 4th Priority puts God as the Source of all truth, goodness, beauty, joy, freedom, love, etc., so that He can flow through me to my neighbors. Self care, on the other hand, is putting myself as the source of all truth, goodness, beauty, joy, freedom, love, etc., and making sure that I get enough time at the spa so that I’m less likely to snap at my wife and kids.

Self care doesn’t work because it makes me worship myself. Which isn’t care at all, but actually one of the most destructive things I could do.

One more thing. I didn’t mention this in the 4th Priority post, because I was focusing on where to place a man’s work, but there is actually a 5th priority that I have for Everything Else.

For me, stuff that people might call self care is in the 5th priority, not the 1st priority.

That’s the principle behind it. Here are some concrete examples:

Sunday morning worship is 1st priority.

Going on a backpacking trip is 5th priority. Something like this is a gift from God and I enjoy it very much, but it only happens after the other four areas are taken care of.

Prayer is 1st priority.

Being an officer in the church is 5th priority. Scripture requires a man to have the first four areas in order before becoming an officer: 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; 1 Pet. 5:2-4; 1 Tim. 3:8-13.

Feasting with family and friends on the Lord’s Day. This one hits all areas except for the 4th priority which is my work.

Keep the questions coming.

What do you think?
Joseph