This post is part of a series on self-care from the perspective of self-care in Christ. How do I care for the person who God says I am?
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
When I wrote about being a masterpiece, I kept thinking about the equipping side of that as well. He made us to be like Him therefore, we are equipped for good things in this life. His divine power has give us EVERYTHING required…we have it all!
Let’s break that down. What is everything required for life? In Genesis 2:7 we learn that God breathed the breath of life in to Adam. God Himself supplies the breath in our lungs. In John 6:35, Jesus is the bread of life. Back in Genesis we see that He created plants for us to eat and gave us meat to eat after the fall. Then Jesus refers to Himself as the bread – the food that sustains us. In Galatians 2 we learn that Christ Himself lives in us. While we live in the flesh, we live by faith. We are fully equipped to live the life we have been given on earth. We have breath, food, and faith.
What is everything required for godliness? God has given us that as well. The obvious answer is that He gave us His son and the Holy Spirit resides within us. And 1 Corinthians 10 says that He will give us a way out from every temptation. Godliness doesn’t mean we won’t be tempted, but that we will find the way out when our desire is to sin (which is all the time!). The finding of the way out isn’t difficult. It is our favorite Sunday School answer, “Jesus!”. He is the Way! HE lived a fully human life to show us how to make our way out of each temptation we face. Trust in Him is crucial when we face trials of all kinds.
And how do we receive those things? Through the knowledge of Him! Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“Divine power! What stupendous issues are grasped in that term, divine power! It was this which digged the deep foundations of the earth and sea! Divine power, it is this which guides the marches of the stars of heaven! Divine power! it is this which holds up the pillars of the universe, and which one day shall shake them, and hurry all things back to their native nothingness.”
Everything in creation shows us His divine power. We gain knowledge of Him just by paying attention. He reveals Himself to us through creation, other people, and most importantly, His Word. We just have to pay attention. Add to all of these mercies, He equips us each individually to fulfill the purpose He gave each of us.
He has promised us so many things. He gives us breath and bread and a Way out. He gives us all of creation, other people created in His image – community, and prayer to commune with Him. So, what does it look like to care for myself knowing that I am fully equipped? It means I discover my purpose and lean into it. In a recent instagram post, I shared how I was feeling about finding happiness. I used to think there were certain milestones I needed to reach in order to achieve true contentment. Those things included getting married and having a baby. While those things have brought joy to my life, they didn’t complete me like I thought they would. In fact, when I was pregnant, people said things like, “You won’t know true joy until you hold that baby in your arms.” While I understand the sentiment there, it just isn’t true.
True joy is found when I press into God’s will for my life. If God had created me to be single I would have found joy in that. If God had created me to never have children, I would have found contentment in living out His will for me. Not that every disappointment doesn’t deserve to be grieved. We don’t always desire the purpose God created for us, but when we live in that purpose we find the true joy of following God.
What purpose do you feel God created you for? Is there something you are avoiding because it doesn’t sound fun to you? I encourage you to lean into it. Try it out and see how you feel once you take a step in obedience.
