Burnout

The title: it’s a topic I’ve wanted to discuss for a while—my own experience, and what God says about burnout.

I’m loosely defining burnout as feeling down or stressed about something to the point that it consumes you.

A couple months ago I felt burnout. At that point I had been going through the “Godmotions” of Bible study, fellowship, and prayer, but the rest of the day I was meditating on my worries--often subconsciously. I remember mentioning to some friends in a meeting around that time that I was missing the peace of God in my life. The difference was so clear.

At that point I knew I had to make some changes. I considered my distractions and eliminated them. I also gave my worries to God by confessing them and asking Him to retake control of them. Also, I’ve just been spending more personal time talking with Him and meditating on scripture in different forms—through verses; songs; messages and books. And I have felt the peace of God return in my life. The last few weeks have been noticeably different from the ones before—in a word, amazing!

As I've seen burnout in my own life, I've also observed it in others' as well. At times we just get down about things—maybe it’s worry; perhaps we’re just physically tired; our lives may not be what we want them to be; people close to us may have hurt us; we feel unappreciated or unloved.

In burnout we have a choice of what will “refuel” us: Christ, or something (or someone) else. What we allow to replenish us is such a critical decision, one that is often the difference between bad and good results later.

One passage God has used to show me this lesson is Galatians 6:7-10. I’ll split it into a few parts:

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

I love the theme of sowing. It really highlights the time it takes for us to see outcomes in life--positive or negative. You don't plant some tomato seeds and the next day, whoa, end up with plump, juicy tomatoes--they take time to grow--or not. And what we do in our sowing time determines what we'll produce.

Verses 7-8a are a warning: if we sow to the flesh, we reap destruction. That's why sometimes when we make wrong decisions—maybe in burnout— initially we don't see anything negative. Everything seems perfectly fine--sometimes great. But then when reaping time comes and we produce pain, it's not so fine. And sometimes we blame God for our troubles, but His word is clear: choosing a way apart Him does not provide a positive outcome.

On the other hand, when we choose to honor God it shows, as verse 8 also highlights--we reap life: “the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

And there's more, such wonderful words of encouragement and promise in verse 9 that can help us to choose Him in burnout:

9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

A harvest--powerful! I’ll highlight a few definitions of harvest:

As a Noun:

-The season when ripened crops are gathered
-A crop or yield of one growing season
-A supply of anything gathered at maturity and stored: a harvest of wheat
-The result or consequence of any act, process, or event: The journey yielded a harvest of wonderful memories.

As a Verb:

-To gain, win, acquire, or use (a prize, product, or result of any past act, process, plan, etc.).

Notice the positive connotations associated with "harvest," especially with the verb definition: i.e., “gain” or “win”. Also, a “yield” or “supply” signifies positive return. The passage only discusses harvest in the context of sowing to the spirit—not the flesh--sowing to the flesh does not produce harvest.

Further, elsewhere in scripture God is referred to as the "Lord of the harvest." According to the definition of harvest, that would make Him the Producer—the One who creates it. What better reason to trust Him as we sow!

Also note the “proper time” element. One reason it can be hard to keep doing good is that, well, sometimes we don’t see results for a long time. And in those moments we often choose to look around at other people who seem to be better off than us despite the fact that they appear not to have been sowing to righteousness for very long—or at all. Rather than compare and judge, we should remember that not every harvest is for the same crop. Some harvests take longer to reap; God may take us through a difficult time for years. But as the definitions note, a harvest is the culmination of a “growing” time that ends in “maturity”—after God has taught us something from which we blossom!

During sowing time is an opportunity to hold fast to His promises and choose life in all we do-because whatever the length of that season, for those who are faithful there is a good result: we will--not might—reap a harvest if (on the condition that) we do not give up.

In Galatians following the promise of harvest is a conclusion about how we should treat others:

10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

I love that direction, “especially the family of believers.” We're a body in Christ, and it's His job to vindicate us at the right time; our only responsibility is to do good. That means that we love others unconditionally—no matter how they treat us. That’s a challenge—but remember it comes with a promise!

Finally, the fact that God often gives us time to see results—good or bad—means that we have a chance to change course before reaping time. If we're sowing to unrighteousness and God gives us an opportunity to sow seeds of righteousness—we should take it. Jesus says that if we confess, He is faithful to forgive us of our sin , making us right with Him. Because of his death on the cross we are not his enemies if we accept Him--no matter what our guilt or others may say. Before reaping time, we can make a change that will produce a harvest later.

The key to avoiding burnout is choosing to sow seeds of righteousness daily, letting the Lord of the Harvest produce something wonderful out of them. There is no better ending to this entry than repeating the promise and conclusion from Galatians 9-10:

“9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Amen!