Burned Out!

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:57-58 ESV). This week the theme most on my mind is perseverance. I want to encourage you not to be discouraged. I guess I have watched so many well meaning Christians get into ministry opportunities and quickly get “burned out”. I don’t have a magic cure for the “overwhelming blues”, but I know that they are common. I get them. I may get dozens of emails one day, asking for advise or giving compliments, and then I’ll go several days without hearing from anyone...unless it’s a complaint. I get those too! If I don’t keep the proper perspective it gets easy to feel “what’s the use”. It’s easy to think no one cares. Now, I am not asking you to write me trying to “cheer me up”. I’m merely trying to illustrate a point. I do know the feeling of burn out. I do know the feeling of working without the signs of any tangible rewards. And the feeling of discouragement is a normal human reaction. What I think I want to accomplish, more than anything else, is to remind you of WHO you are serving! I want you to keep your eyes focused, so that even when you don’t feel appreciated, or you start to get overwhelmed, you can continue on the path that God has for you! I want you to keep doing the good things you have been doing, and perhaps do even more. Why? Because I believe, now more than ever before, that Jesus is going to return soon. When He does He has promised victory for His own. He has promised to reward us for our faithfulness. He is waiting to deliver those oh so needed words, “well done, my good and faithful servant”. I want to hear those words, and I want you to hear them too! Keep serving the One whose worthy to be continually served! It won’t be long now...and it will be worth it! The key is in knowing our source of peace is in the promise of God. Imagine a wick that is placed in oil, and then lit. If the oil runs out, the wick burns. As long as there is oil, the wick doesn’t burn. As long as we are living in dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t burn out. Recently I read the prayer of the fourth-century church father Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, who prayed: “I am spent, O my Christ, Breath of my life. Perpetual stress and surge, in league together, make long, oh long this life, this business of living. Grappling with foes within and foes without, my soul hath lost its beauty, blurred your image.” There’s the key! Don’t let the image get blurred!