By, Michelle Burton
There’s a lot of talk in our culture today about knowing yourself, getting to know who you truly are at your very core. Various personality assessments and online quizzes facilitate this trend of self-knowledge. I believe there’s value in these to a certain extent, but they are far from a complete solution to the unrest in our souls. Yes, God created us with unique personalities, likes, and dislikes, and knowing what these are can be useful in our quest to serve Him with our skills. But the more I’ve tried to know myself, the more I come up short. Who I am at my very core is a sinner. When I spend time trying to get to know myself, I am not satisfied in the end.
What’s truly fulfilling? Getting to know God. The more time I spend with God in His Word, the more I know Him. I understand His character, His personality, His likes, His dislikes. I see the purpose He has planned for everything under the sun. Just as He already knows who I am at my very core, every day I grow in my knowledge of who He is and the passions of His heart. I find far more fulfillment in making myself a student of God than making myself a student of me.
And you know what? The more I get to know God, the more I get to know myself as a result. I see how I fall short in light of His perfection. But I see how His grace has more than covered my deepest sin. I see His purpose for my life here on this earth. And I’m strengthened with the confidence that He made me exactly the way I am for a specific reason.
Right on par with knowing yourself is the popular concept of self care. Self care is defined as “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one's own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.” The sad thing is, when we’re focused on protecting our own happiness, we’ll never find true joy. The Bible is clear that our calling is to imitate Jesus and put others before ourselves, just as He did.
Philippians 2:3-8
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Rather than being called to care for ourselves, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. Yet it is in this losing of ourselves that we find true joy and purpose in life.
Mark 8:34-35
"And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel’s, the same shall save it."
Does this mean that we should never do anything for ourselves? Of course not. However, I believe we would be wise to use a filter of selflessness even when making the decision to do something for ourselves. Before doing something for myself, I try to ask these two questions:
Am I neglecting the needs of others in order to do this thing for myself?
Will the thing that I am about to do make me better equipped to serve others?
If I am not neglecting others, but am actually better equipping myself to be at my best to serve, doing something “for myself” can be completely unselfish.
*This devotional is an excerpt from Michelle’s most recently published book, Losing Yourself and Finding Joy: Jonah, God’s Wayward Prophet. You can purchase the full version of the book on Amazon.
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