What Does The Bible Say About Self-Care?

I’ve talked about my struggle with busyness before. It’s never been worse than during my days as a youth pastor. I wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t eating well, and never slowed down. I was dying inside because I had no idea that my greatest calling was to love my neighbor and greatest responsibility was to care for myself.

I failed to see the great need for cultivating a relationship with my wife and my children. Because of my lack of boundaries and an unwillingness to tell people “no”, I was keeping the people who loved me the most at a distance.

Eventually, the stress was more than I could bear, and I tried to kill myself.

Since those dark and desperate days, I’ve worked hard to focus on my recovery and have learned invaluable self-care tips and tricks. As a pastor, I’ve also noticed several places in the Bible where self-care is promoted.