Almost everyone is a caregiver in some capacity. Whether counseling friends, parenting children, educating students, pastoring a church, caring for the elderly or coaching a team, most of us have caregiving roles that entail a mixture of burdens and blessings.

My wife Lori recently published an article in Intersections which chronicles aspects of my cancer journey and provides a biblical perspective about caregiving. She discusses instability and peace, fatigue and grace, hope and endurance, and caregiving and godliness.

Under “Caregiving and Godliness,” Lori encourages caregivers of all sorts, saying, “be confident that God is caring for you constantly in much the same way that you are caring for the patient and that he can lift you up when you feel like you don’t have anything left to give. He wants to bear our burdens and walk this difficult path with us. As 1 Peter 5:6–7 states, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV).

One of the most incredible realizations through my personal experience with caregiving is that God is truly the ultimate caregiver and that our capacity to be caregivers is an aspect of being God’s image. His care for us can be seen when he willingly enters into a relationship where he is constantly needed. The loyalty that God has for people is an aspect of God’s character that humans express as they show loyalty and care for other people. God’s willingness to become human, to be a sacrifice for us through his death on the cross, and to resurrect the human body is the most amazing picture of caregiving. Many caregivers I know, while not capable of dying in the place of another, have willingly sacrificed their freedoms and comfort in order to focus on the needs of others.

The Christian caregiver has the additional benefit of knowing that their patient is God’s image and, as such, has intrinsic dignity and worth. “To recognize that others are created as God’s image should compel us to treat them with dignity.”[1] The work of a caregiver, while sometimes exhausting and frustrating, is life-giving work and pleases the Creator of the cosmos. We are like God when we provide care for others. As Carmen Imes so aptly states, “Our job is to ensure the flourishing of those around us.’[2]

God’s good care for us is multi-faceted and beyond comprehension. As the writer of Psalm 8:3-4 proclaims, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (NIV). Amazingly, God does care for us, and we, in turn, get to care for others. And through it all, we understand more of who God is and his tremendous love for us.” [3]

Lori continues with specific examples of caregiving that involve the church family, and she also expresses appreciation for healthcare professionals. Her closing remarks say it all: “Caregiving is powerful and important, and it is something we can all be actively involved with. God himself sets the example of caregiving and we are like him when we do the same for others.” [4]

Notes

[1] Carmen Joy Imes, Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023) 56.

[2] Imes, Being God’s Image, 57.

[3] Lori Way, "The Burdens and Privileges of Caregiving," Intersections, September 17, 2024, www.cbhd.org/intersections/the-burdens-and-privileges-of-caregiving. Her footnotes 8 and 9 cite Carmen Joy Imes, Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023) 56-57.

[4] Way, "The Burdens and Privileges of Caregiving," Intersections, September 17, 2024,www.cbhd.org/intersections/the-burdens-and-privileges-of-caregiving.