Have You Paid Attention To Yourself Lately?

Have You Paid Attention To Yourself Lately?


Take heed unto thyself.
1 Timothy 4:16

Are you constantly serving others without giving yourself needed times of rest and refreshing? Or do you remember that you have spiritual needs too? When Paul wrote First Timothy 4:16, Timothy was a young pastor working ferociously to see his ministry succeed. Timothy was serving as the pastor of the giant church of Ephesus — the world’s largest church at that time. In the process, he was learning to deal with all the problems that go along with serving as the senior pastor of such a large church.

Have you ever been guilty of running around and taking care of everyone else except yourself? Have you ever gotten so busy helping others that you forfeited your own vital time with God? Be honest! Have you ever done this so regularly that you began to feel drained, and you knew it was because you weren’t taking care of your own spiritual needs?

Paul admonished Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself.” Could mean to “take hold of yourself.”
Carol my wife and myself find that it is so easy to become distracted by other things that scream for our attention, whether it is ministry related or not.
We’ve found that if our relationship with God, that is our fellowship time, suffers because you are trying to help everyone else, it will just be a matter of time until you run dry, lose your energy and passion, and have nothing more to offer.

This is exactly what was happening to Timothy! If he was to continue serving as an effective minister to other people, he had to set aside some private time to develop his own relationship with God.
A very good friend mine translates this verse this way: “Get ahold of yourself.” “Make your own spiritual life a priority.” “Don’t get so busy that you forget you have spiritual needs too.”

It’s good to serve the Lord and to be willing to work. You should be faithful at whatever He has called you to do, whether it is ministry or in the local church. But you should never get so busy that you forget your own spiritual needs and thus end up running dry of spiritual power. Take Paul’s words to heart. Never forget to “take heed unto thyself “!

If you are going to serve God and do His will for years to come, it is essential that you make your own spiritual life your first priority. After all, you can only give what you have inside you. If you run dry because you never spend time with the Lord, it won’t be long until you have nothing left to give to anyone!

So if you wish to continue being effective for God’s Kingdom, it is mandatory that you don’t forget about your own spiritual need to grow and to be refreshed by the Word. As Paul’s words could be understood, “Don’t get so busy that you forget you have spiritual needs too!”
Some of this was taken from “Sparkling Gems from the Greek,” by Rick Renner.
Check Rick out at www.renner.org