In My (Unpopular) Opinion
There is a popular Reels on Instagram right now that asks you to share one unpopular opinion you have. Here is mine: I don’t believe in self care. I believe in soul care. I know some people would argue that they are one and the same, but I disagree.
Self care is me focused. Soul care is God focused. Self care asks the question, “what do I need for me?” Soul care asks the question, “What does God need from me?” There is a difference.
On Sunday, Pastor Doug talked about loving God with our minds. He said that in order to do that we have to renew our minds like scripture tells us in Romans 12:2. This verse serves as a warning to me about the dangers of getting caught up in the world and conforming to the ways of this world. It is an easy thing to do, and it happens really fast.
The world loves to try and convince us that it revolves around us. The world wants us to believe that everything is about us. According to the world, everything should be me-focused. According to God, we should be focused on Him first and foremost.
Jesus modeled this idea of soul care throughout His earthly ministry. He remained God-focused the whole time, even when His disciples tried to convince Him to send people away or to go away Himself to get some rest. Yes, He did go away by Himself from time to time to pray, but those moments were never about Him. They were about what God needed from Him. He went away to be with God and to allow God to give Him what He needed in order to continue to live out God’s plan for Him here on earth. His attitude was never, “Let me go take care of myself.” It was always, “Let me go be with God so God can take care of me and prepare me for more steps of obedience.” Do you see the difference? He lived out Colossians 3:2. I live in the tension of Colossians 3:2. Maybe, you do too.
The world is constantly reminding us that we are not enough. It is true that we are not enough on our own. The problem is that the world follows that up by offering all of these ideas for us on how we can be enough. If we could just make more money, then we would be enough. If we would use this new product, or this new app, or this new gadget, then we would be enough on our own. If we would just learn to take care of ourselves first, then we would be enough on our own. We can’t fill from an empty cup, right? That must mean that we should be practicing self care regularly so we will have a cup full enough to pour from I guess, right? I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying it.
I can’t fill my own cup, and neither can you. God is the only One that can fill my cup, and He is the only One that can fill yours. God is the only One who knows what you need to be fulfilled. We all want to be fulfilled and experience true joy. Those things only come from walking in obedience to God. He has a plan for each of us and He is the only One who knows what we need to be able to walk that path with Him. We are only enough when we are being filled by Him. That is soul care. Soul care is spending time focusing on what God needs from us and allowing Him to do whatever He needs to do to fill us with the things that we need in order to do His work. Sometimes it will require solitude, and sometimes it will require being surrounded by the people that God placed in your life that just get you and love to pour into you and build you up.
Focusing on soul care rather than self care will definitely require a renewing of your mind. This way of thinking goes against the messages the world is bombarding you with day after day. Soul care requires that we live out Colossians 3:2 and begin to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. That is not an easy thing to do. It is going to take some effort on our part. Unfortunately, it does not come naturally to us. It would be so much easier if it did.
Walking in obedience can be very difficult. Walking in obedience to God usually has us walking against the flow of the world. Our bodies will get tired, but our souls will carry us. It’s not about you and what you need; it’s about God and what He needs from you.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV).
I believe that if we can renew our minds to focus on the eternal and not the temporary, we will finally be able to capture that thing we have been chasing our whole lives…true joy and fulfillment in this life here on earth. I want that so badly, don’t you?