Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31 ESV
When this passage is read and talked about, people usually summarize the two commandments here as, “Love God, Love Others.” However, to skip over the words “as yourself” and discard it entirely does a great disservice to the Lord in you.
I suggest we can’t properly love others in any sort of meaningful way if we can’t first acknowledge the Christ in ourselves, cultivate the gift God has placed within us, and honor that gift appropriately by caring for our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical selves. It is not inherently SELFISH to provide SELF-CARE, but it is a prerequisite and a necessity to be fully equipped and empowered to push the Christ in you out to others.
However, many shy away because any good thing can be perverted. Self-care could become self-absorbed without the proper leading and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Ask Him today what self-care you are lacking, and what practices or steps He would recommend you begin in order to be healthy enough to love others. Remember that loving the Christ in you is loving the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and that is the essence of the greatest commandment.