Exhausted for Jesus

This past season, I’ve been working diligently on my home’s landscaping. It’s nowhere close to what I imagined it to be, but it’s so much closer to where I started. Challenges and setbacks have constantly emerged that either slowed the process down or revealed the actual amount of work needed.

Here’s the hurdle now. When I walk out into the yard, I rarely enjoy it. That’s because all I see is the work left to do rather than enjoying the progress made.

This article is part three of a series on burnout.

Exhausted

Photo by Envato Elements

DOING MORE iS DOING MORE

So it is with our spiritual lives. In our desire to pursue the Christian life, let’s face it, sometimes it becomes a joyless chore.

I’ve been reading a book titled, The Joy Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Peace, Purpose, and Balance by Jeff Spadafora. It’s shed some incredible light on an ongoing problem I see — Christians doing things for God till they burn out and quit.

In the opening chapter, Jeff describes this awkward place many Christians find themselves — exhausted for Jesus.

Very often, a Christian senses something is wrong in their journey and desires more. So naturally, they reason, maybe I should be doing more. That looks like volunteering as a Sunday school teacher, setting up for Sunday service, or some other form of service rendered. They bought into the assumption that if they merely did more for God, that would somehow yield greater intimacy.

Their motivation is done in the desire of “serving God.” After all, James 2:20 says, “faith without works is dead.” Yet their lives are joyless, lacking any genuine “feeling” of the fruits of the Spirit.

Spadafora nails the problem. “Maybe that’s the problem, you think. My joy is blocked because I’m not doing enough for God.” But here’s the dilemma. All that “doing” ultimately leads “to exhaustion, boredom, and perhaps some resentment” if it’s not adequately grounded in something far more critical — Abiding in Jesus.

RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEM

I’ve experienced something similar. Returning to my landscaping dilemma, when I walk into my backyard, I can only see the remaining work before me.

I can’t enjoy it for what it “is” or what it had “already become.” In other words, I’m not merely “abiding” in my yard. I approach it with a judgmental attitude, seeing all its imperfections rather than enjoying the progress made and recognizing it as a place for fun, relaxation, and restoration.

Our relationship with the Lord is similar. When it becomes merely about “doing” rather than “being,” we miss out on the promises made by God — love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

Paul’s list in Galatians 5:22-23 is followed by something significant. He says, “against such things, there is no law” (vs. 23b).

There is no law because these virtues represent the very best human condition, an ideal promised by almost all religions. But there is a secret unique to Christianity. Rather than traveling down an eight-fold path, mindlessly meditating for 20 minutes, or bowing and praying five times a day, Jesus says, “abide in me.”

What does it mean to Abide?

The Greek word translated as “abide” means to reside, wait, remain, or continue.

When we “do more” to experience “more joy,” we treat God’s love as a transaction. In legal terms, it becomes a “quid pro quo.” It’s as if we’re saying, “look God at all I” m doing for you! Now repay me with inner peace.” But that’s the very opposite of abiding in Jesus.

Doing more for the sake of doing never translates to more joy. Instead, it produces just tired, worn-out grumpy Christians. And nobody wants that.

Exhaustion, burnout, and generalized grumpiness all stem from one root cause, mistaking doing for being.

The world doesn’t need more grumpy Christians. Instead, it needs abiding Christians full of the Spirit and grounded in God’s amazing love.

So have a look at yourself and ask, “Am I trying to do more for God in the hopes of experiencing more?” If so, perhaps doing less is more effective.

Questions:

Look at this list for a moment and ask the following:

1. When was the last time you authentically felt the love of God?
2. As you evaluate your life today, where would joy fit into the picture?
3. Given the circumstances of the world, how do you feel and experience the ongoing pleasure of God?