I was talking with a friend recently about what it looks like to put yourself into the equation of your life. I know this seems like a strange philosophical mind game, but there are many times when I have forgotten to think about myself and my needs and what I should be doing to stay healthy. 
I’ve never been good at self care. I have spent a lot of time serving others and never really put myself into the equation of people that I should serve. 

Now hear me correctly – there are plenty of times when I have made selfish decisions and had one sided coversations that were all about me, or fell into the trap of our culture’s lie that it’s only about ME, etc. 

So how do I know that I’ve spent too much time thinking about everyone but myself? Because I got to a point where I had given so much of who I was to everyone else that I stopped being able to fulfill the passion God has placed on my heart to serve others and now have to rebuild myself up from a murky quagmire. 

Christians often have this ideal that they need to constantly pour themselves out and be at others’ beck and call at all hours. They say, “but Jesus loved everyone and spent time with everyone and shouldn’t I give all of myself to people?”

That’s what I thought too. But even Jesus himself took time away from the crowd and even from the disciples to be alone with God. He showed us how to care for ourselves. And he didn’t spend hours with every single person he met. Some just touched his cloak and were forever changed, some got to have dinner with him and learned lessons and heard parables, and some got to travel with him and see him do miracles and speak to thousands of people. 

Regardless of if he was just passing by you or if he was part of your inner circle – he changed you. 

That is what being a Christian should be. Living a life so closely with Christ that everyone – the people you pass on the street or your closest friends and family – see Him in you and are changed even just the slightest bit because of Christ’s power in you, not because of anything you said or did other than abide with his spirit. 

Not because you gave all your time to everyone you know or meet. Or because you served in this role or that. But because you decided that you were important enough to God to spend time growing deeper with Him and therefore everyone can see it. 

You are just as important to him as each of his children. It’s just as honoring to him when you take care of your own body, soul, and mind as it is to take care of others.