Care is a fundamental theme permeating the Bible, encompassing a broad range of forms and expressions. The Bible communicates the importance of care in its purest sense – extending love, kindness, gentleness, and consideration to fellow humans and creation as a whole. It emphasizes care as an intentional act, reflective of God’s own caring nature. Stepping beyond mere words, the Bible guides readers on how to implement care in daily living, presenting a set of values that shape character while enhancing a sense of community.
What the Bible Says About Care
Gleaning insights from various passages, it is evident that the Bible places substantial emphasis on care. The Bible frequently portrays God as a caring Father who nurtures, guides, and provides for His children. This serves as a blueprint for human interactions, underpinning relationships within families, communities, and nations. Other verses emphasize care for the poor and less fortunate, implying that care should extend beyond immediate circles to the broader community. There is also a recurring theme of care for oneself, invoking the notion of individual well-being and self-care for holistic development.
Who the Bible Tells Us to Care For
The Bible instructs all followers to extend their care to any and everyone they come in contact with. Caring without discrimination is a recurring theme, with passages encouraging the care of widows, orphans, foreigners, and the marginalized. It emphasizes the notion that everyone, irrespective of social standing or ethnicity, deserves care. In essence, everyone should be a recipient of care, just as everyone should provide care. This mutual obligation fosters an environment of collective support and cooperative development.
When We Are Called to Care in the Bible
The Bible offers clear guidance on when caring is necessary – which is essentially always. It does not prescribe specific times or occasions for expressing care but instead encourages a constant outpouring of care, love, and kindness. The Bible prescribes care as a continuous act – a habit developed and expressed with consistency. This could range from moments of joy and celebration to periods of distress and sorrow. The Bible essentially asks followers to maintain a consistent aura of care, uncoerced by circumstances or situations.
Why Care Matters According to the Bible
The Bible regards care as a crucial element in the fostering of harmony, peace, and progress within society. It signals that care is a reflection of God’s love, expressing His divine nature within us. Care fuels unity, fosters positive interaction, facilitates growth, and builds strong, resilient communities. Care softens disputes, bridges divides, and facilitates forgiveness and reconciliation. It is also integral for personal growth and development, fostering mental well-being and fulfillment. In essence, care serves a dual function, fulfilling both personal and communal aspects of life.
Where Care is Manifested in the Bible
The Bible highlights various spaces where care can be expressed. At the personal level, this includes care for the body and mind, ensuring one’s physical and mental well-being. At the familial level, it includes care for parents, siblings, spouses, and children. On a societal level, care should be extended to neighbors, friends, colleagues, and even strangers. In addition, the Bible encourages care and nurturing of resources and the environment, underscoring stewardship over the world. Regardless of the space, the Bible emphasizes that genuine care should extend to all spheres of life.
Below is our full list of bible verses on care (King James Version – KJV) provided in ranked order.
Most Popular Bible Verses About Care
1 Peter 5:7
“7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Related Themes: Loneliness Frustration Depression Worry Complaining
Philippians 2:4
“4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Related Themes: Selfishness Selflessness Dating Serving Others Sacrifice
Ephesians 4:32
“32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Related Themes: Trespassing Forgiveness Kindness Bitterness Reconciliation
Hebrews 13:8
“8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
Related Themes: Omnipotence Change Healing Manipulation Theft
James 1:27
“27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Related Themes: Strangers Homelessness Holiness Benevolence Justice
Proverbs 27:23
“23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.”
3 John 1:2
“2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Related Themes: Holy Spirit Lust Health Holiness Omnipresence
Proverbs 21:13
“13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
Related Themes: Homelessness Protests Serving The Poor Charity Generosity
Ezekiel 16:49
“49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
Related Themes: Homelessness Idleness Pride Attitude Abomination
Job 12:7-10
“7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
Related Themes: Earth Creativity Nature Animals
Ephesians 4:2
“2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”
Related Themes: Humility Patience Love Bitterness Attitude
Matthew 6:26
“26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
Matthew 10:29
“29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”
Related Themes: Omnipotence Sovereignty Omnipotence Omnipresence Earth
Genesis 1:26
“26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Related Themes: Earth Omnipotence Earth Greatness Creativity
Genesis 2:15
“15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
Related Themes: Earth Business Stewardship Work Laziness
Psalm 24:1-2
“1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.”
Deuteronomy 10:14
“14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.”
Related Themes: Earth Sovereignty Omnipresence Creation
Deuteronomy 25:4
“4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.”
1 Timothy 5:23
“23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”
Related Themes: Health Moderation Alcoholism Healing
John 14:15
“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Related Themes: Holy Spirit Love Obedience Attitude Lust
1 John 3:17-18
“17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Related Themes: Homelessness Selfishness Money Serving The Poor
Matthew 9:12
“12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”
Proverbs 19:17
“17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.”
Related Themes: Homelessness Strangers Business Money Serving The Poor
Matthew 10:30-31
“30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
Related Themes: Omnipotence Hair Omnipresence
John 13:34-35
“34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Related Themes: Love Hate Fidelity Forgiveness
James 5:13-15
“13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
Related Themes: Music Singing Sadness Prayer Hopelessness
Proverbs 3:7-8
“7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”
Jeremiah 8:22
“22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?”
Jeremiah 30:17
“17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.”
Related Themes: Restoration Healing Health Rejection Sickness
