True Renewal
Does self-care ever leave you wanting more? We love a good spa day as much as the next woman, but how do we experience true renewal as Christians, and how can we really lean into the Source of all life? Join Melissa this week as she continues her series, Strength for Service. If you missed last week’s lesson examining the “empty cup” mantra, be sure and catch that one first, and remember to download this week’s free companion study guide below.
[Video Transcript]
Recap From Week One
Welcome to week two of our Strength for Service series. Jesus said that He came not to be served, but to serve, so I assume as Christians we are trying to adopt this attitude as well. Last week, I highlighted Paul’s attitude of pouring himself out in service, and presented some scriptures that challenge the philosophies behind the mantra, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
Rest: A Non-Negotiable
However, this isn’t to say that we as humans don’t require some type of renewal. Our need for rest is not only obvious based on our lived experience, but also literally encoded into God’s design of the universe, since He spent six days working and then rested on the seventh day. In fact, when Exodus 31 reiterates the Sabbath command originally found in Exodus 20, the author writes about our Creator, “and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” The Hebrew word for “refreshed” literally means taking a breath, or figuratively, pausing to catch one’s breath. It is totally incompatible with a nonstop, frenetic pace of life. Fast-forward to Jesus’s time on earth, and He not only kept the weekly Sabbath, but also required additional periods of rest and solitude to fuel Him for continued ministry. Together these make a compelling case for the classical prescription of “rest and relaxation” to prevent burnout.
What has your idea of R&R looked like in the past? Have you ever returned from a beach vacation feeling like you needed another one? Ended a Netflix binge feeling lethargic and unmotivated? Slept in super late yet woke up wanting to go right back to bed? The problem is that the sources of renewal we tend to reach for under the umbrella of modern self care usually only address our physical and mental health.
This Week’s Big Idea
God created us with physical needs and spiritual needs. When I use the term “spirit” today, I’m talking about that inward part of us that physical solutions can’t address. In the self-care examples I mentioned a moment ago—the beach, Netflix, and extra sleep—we saw things that rested our bodies and brains, but none of them addressed the inner person.
The big idea I want to convey is that true renewal isn't found merely through rest for the body and relief from mental stress, but through relationship with God. If we desire sustained strength for service, then we need to be adequately supporting our physical needs and our spiritual lives.
Caring for the Physical
We already know what to do when our bodies feel run down: Prioritize sleep; eat better; incorporate more movement, etc. We are also usually fairly aware of how to address mental fatigue: We might seek out a counselor to help us cope with stress; outsource the preparation of this year’s tax returns; or, take a week of PTO to get away from spreadsheets and emails.
However, as a body of believers, do we know what to do when our spirit is weary?
Renewing the Non-Physical
Consider 2 Corinthians 4:16, our feature scripture this week. Paul writes, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Paul acknowledges that our outward person requires care and eventually declines in spite of that self-care, but he also speaks of an inward person that requires daily renewal. Unlike our physical bodies, the inward person can continue to be renewed throughout our lives.
No self-care trend can fix the spiritual, because attunement with God is the only path to this type of renewal.
Jesus’s Example for Renewal
Jesus came in the flesh, so His needs while on earth were the same as ours are now. When Jesus needed rest, He didn’t book a vacation, binge a season of The Chosen, or spend a day at the spa. These modern forms of self-care, while not inherently wrong, can—that’s the operative word—can become bottomless pits of hedonism if we don’t keep them in balance. What I like about these kinds of self-care is that they do refresh our bodies and mind, and caring for the physical is absolutely necessary. However, because they don’t satisfy on a spiritual level, by themselves they can’t leave us feeling completely renewed.
If we read the gospel accounts with an eye towards how Jesus renewed Himself, we’ll notice that when He withdrew from His normal activities, it was primarily to spend time with His Father in prayer and worship. That is the missing ingredient in the secret sauce of true renewal, and no amount of shiny nail polish or piña coladas by the poolside will substitute.
Lasting Pleasures
Please don't think I'm trying to demonize every act of non-religious relaxation; there are degrees of value in modern self-care. My goal is to shed light on the relatively fleeting nature of these kinds of pleasures, compared to the lasting value of time spent investing in God’s ways. Self-care that addresses only physical needs has a relatively short shelf-life. Contrast the temporary nature of the pleasure found in, say, getting a massage, to what King David said about God in Psalm 16:11, when he wrote, “…at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Not fleeting pleasures; lasting pleasures, because God’s presence provides true renewal of the whole person.
Looking at the situation objectively, of course that’s the kind of renewal we want to experience–the kind that addresses our whole selves and has lasting benefits. But let’s face it; this requires a lot of purposefulness. It’s so much easier in the moment to doom-scroll than to pray and study; but I think this is one of those areas in which we get out of it what we put in, so we need to push ourselves to play the long game, not just take the path of least resistance. (But oh, how tempting that path looks when I’m tired!)
Let’s discuss a few types of R&R that actually renew our inner selves, not just our bodies.
Sabbath Rest
I believe the number one way to become renewed and strengthened for service is to take our weekly Sabbaths more seriously—and I can’t stress enough how important it is that we approach our use of those 24 hours per week with reverence and intention. If we’re taking a weekly break from what the Old Testament calls “customary work,” then rest for the mind and body is naturally built in. God intended the Sabbath to likewise renew our inner selves, but this requires some action on our part, in the form of prayer, Bible study, meditation, and worship. The team here at Stir has so much more to say about keeping the Sabbath with our whole hearts in future devotionals, so for now I’ll just encourage us to evaluate whether our Sabbaths have been leaving us feeling refreshed, and if the answer is no, to pray for help discerning what needs to change.
Other Means of Spiritual Renewal
Besides Sabbath keeping, obviously we need to spend time in communication with our Father through prayer and Bible study during the rest of the week, and I also strongly encourage us all to find a kind of worship music that makes us feel genuinely full of praise, and make it a regular part of our weeks. I used to listen to secular music six days a week and then play Christian music only on the Sabbath, but when I began weaving worship into the fabric of my life all week, my spiritual life got a boost because my heart was more consistently oriented towards God. Personally, I like to look up chords to worship songs and spend time at the piano, singing and playing. It checks all the boxes to renew my “whole self,” on a deep level. We can also feel spiritually renewed from such experiences as Christian marriage retreats, Christian leadership weekends, a week at church camp, time spent in fellowship with our Bible study group or godly friends, and quiet times spent in nature with plenty of opportunity for connection with God. It’s critical we understand that the component missing from most modern self-care can only be found when we dwell in the presence of the One from whom “times of refreshing” come; the One who can renew our inward person day by day.
A One-Stop Shop
If hearing all this makes spiritual renewal sound like one more thing to add to your to-do list, remember Psalm 23. David pictures God as the Shepherd who provides everything His sheep need—rest, food, water, safety—and ultimately restores the whole person. The more we learn to seek God first, the more we'll find that many of our needs are already being met in His presence, reducing our need to pursue self-care elsewhere.
Bottom Line
The point I want us to take away from this week’s study is this: True renewal isn't found merely in ceasing activity; it's found in meeting with God. Being aware of the limits of self-care and the limitlessness of God helps prevent us from jumping on a hamster wheel of self-care pursuits and then wondering why we still feel burnt out.
Coming Up
Next week we’ll dig even deeper into the practical problems with finding strength for continued service by troubleshooting the most common obstacles: perfectionism, disordered priorities, and an absence of well-thought-out boundaries. See you then.
Melissa lives near Louisville, Kentucky with her husband and four children. When she isn’t on the pickleball court, you’ll find her starting innumerable creative projects or jumping into the first few chapters of her latest personal growth book, knowing she won’t have time to finish it before the next intriguing title catches her eye.
