Keeping My Mind

Chapter 5 “Selfless or Selfish” is about taking care of yourself so that you can make the entire journey of life before you as effectively as possible. An example may crystallize this idea for some of us.

Your car at a very basic level is a means of transforming energy stored in fuel into motion. You go along for the ride with little to no exertion of your own energy at a rate that far exceeds what you could achieve directly using your own strength. If you take care of the car, it takes care of your transportation wishes. Taking care of your car involves things like maintaining it, refreshing its oil, not letting it stand idle for long periods of time in bad weather and not over-exerting it beyond what it is designed for.

Your body and your emotions may be likened to a car. If you maintain them well and exercise them wisely in deliberate environments, you equip them well to carry you through life’s journey. Equally important is the capacity this creates to enable others to come along with you for the ride. I understand that accidents do happen, but that possibility doesn’t justify reckless driving, both of your car and of your person. We do what is in our control for our upkeep, and leave what is outside of our control to God.

So my key question in this chapter is about trade off: where is the pivot line between being selfless versus being selfish?

Wayne Cordeiro wrote a book called, “Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion”. He describes his experience of being burnt out and his recovery from it. Wayne pastors a mega-church in Hawaii and his outer success may seem out of step with his inner deficit. But isn’t that so often the case, even with people who seem to be doing a tremendous amount of good externally? Which is why taking care of myself is the second most important pillar of my framework.

To be selfish is to be concerned chiefly with one’s own profit or pleasure. To be selfless is to be concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own. I would like to make the case that taking care of yourself first can be a very selfless act when your aspirations are to serve the greater good. However, I think it is more difficult to define boundary lines in living this out. My advice is best articulated in the classic Greek aphorism: Know Thyself.

In our temporal world we are able to accomplish things by using our energy, either mental or physical. While vision, goal setting and the like are used to focus our energy so we can use it most productively (the most output for the least input), we must first generate the energy before we can use it. I would like to discuss 3 things that generate mental energy, and 3 things that generate physical energy. Rest, stimulation and psychological conditions are inputs that cause our mental energy to come alive. Food, exercise and bodily applications are determinants of our physical energy level.

When more energy is required of us than we are generating, our tank drains and when it’s empty we burn out. So we need to prioritize what things are drawing our energy and either eliminate the excess or supplement what fills us. Most of us have enough energy to take care of the basic things God requires of us as human beings. You may not have enough energy to take care of a church but you do have enough to take care of your family. However, if the church comes before the family and your energy is short, you may end up failing your church and then your family as well. Hence, the Apostle Paul advises Timothy that a man must first manage his family before he tries to manage the church. (1 Timothy 3: 5) “Walk” with me through some thoughts.