Church Issues #1

I anticipate this being the first of several on church issues.

I don't have issues with the teachings of the evangelical Christian church. I have issues with how to apply it to my life, the way I look at life and the way I see myself. Much of the teaching that goes on seems to presuppose that people see themselves in a certain way. Teachings like "view others more highly than yourself" appear to assume that people normally don't already think other people are better than they are.

It's hard for me to figure out what to do with those teachings. Jesus gave up His life, His all. Yet, at the same time, He took a break from his ministry at times to pray. He didn't give up all His needs. He slept. He ate. He rested. Where exactly is the line of things that are acceptable to take a break from serving others to do? Obviously prayer comes into the equation. It always does. If "pray about it" is the answer, then is the entire purpose of teaching to point us in the direction of those things about which we need to pray? Does all teaching boil down to "God's Word says this, now go pray about it"?

That's not really the question I had in mind for this entry, but it does come close. Given narcissistic parents, who expect their child(ren) to give of themselves to care for their parents from the time the child(ren) are little, how do those children learn what is Biblical with respect to giving and serving?