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!

Closer to Thee

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about walking with God daily. I’ve been meditating on Psalm 119: 1-16, which lists the benefits of keeping God’s commands and explains how to keep them faithfully. The psalmist also provides a personal touch by sharing how he has sought God with all of his heart. It’s a passionate and personal account, one that should be both an encouragement and challenge for Christians to make pursing God daily our aim.

I won’t dissect the passage--I think reading the psalm is better than me explaining it:). But I will share some lessons from it.

First, it highlights the fact that really living for Christ every day is so contradictory to our world—and what we often say even as Christians. This passage says that if we walk with God daily—seek him with all of our hearts; meditate on His word; focus on Him and praise Him—we can live upright and avoid sin. We say we’re only human, it’s impossible to follow God’s ways completely and we should just go after whatever makes us happy at the moment rather than seek what He has for us.

But again, the psalmist sees true life in following God’s commands. He gets excited—“rejoices… delights” (v. 14; 16) in God’s model for righteousness. And he prays that as he seeks God with all of his heart, God keeps him from stumbling. He is relentless in his pursuit of life with God and trusts God to give him the strength to choose it consistently (v. 5-8). This passage is such an example for us!

Second, it makes me think about my walk. Recently I’ve been pondering my limits. There’s so much I want to accomplish—so many things I want to be to others and myself—but I fall short of those goals. I want to be totally loving and forgiving always—but I’m not always. I want to do my very best at work all the time, for His glory—but at times I don’t. I want to support like, all these causes—but I can’t do everything.

But the “I” is the problem. Living an upright life requires going to The Source daily. And it begins with deciding there is nothing greater in this life than what God has planned for me. Once I make that choice, I am able to live uprightly, correct myself when I stray (and stray less), focus less on my limits and see Him accomplish His plan in my life. That is one reason daily time in God’s Word, as the psalm also underscores, is so important: it gives us constant direction!

This month I’ve made a commitment to seek God daily in a particular quiet place—a special place in nature where I love talking to God. For some reason going there and sitting on a hand-crafted wood bench, listening to the birds chirp, crickets buzz and looking at the tall deciduous trees covering the sky above me—and the air around me—make me think of both the vastness of His splendor and the nearness of His presence. And when I feel that free, I talk to Him so openly, hear Him speak clearly and feel the peace only He can dole.

He's teaching me things. Right now it's how to surrender my desires completely to Him. Yeah, it’s one of those ongoing lessons:). He’s also showing me the beauty of His forgiveness—how it gives me the freedom to keep moving after I sin when I would have been inclined to shrink back in guilt. In a couple words, I’m growing!

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came for us to have life--and have it “more abundantly,” or, “to the full.” That doesn’t just mean having eternal life by praying the “Sinner’s Prayer” for salvation, but also being full every day after that decision. And when we daily walk uprightly as the psalmist describes, we tap into that abundant life that He has for us. Yes, God isn’t here to meet our expectations, but when we seek Him, He can specialize in blowing our minds. That’s yet another reason to choose Him every day!

There’s an (old) hymn that comes to mind, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” I really like the chorus:

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

That’s basically the psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 119. And I pray it’s yours, too.