Burn out

I cannot legitimize burnout as an acceptable state of ministry for a healthy servant of God…and I’m currently dragging bottom emotionally and mentally toasted.

As common as this may be, this is not an acceptable status. This is not a label that I can brand as a “season of life”. This is a moment of conviction and soul-searching. It is a warning signal that the Holy Spirit is firing across all my systems. It is an opportunity. There is something in my life that needs to be addressed…something that needs to be eliminated, confessed, or healed. It may be brokenness. It may be unforgiveness. It may be an illness that is preventing my mind and body from securing the rest my Creator and Designer requires. It may be sin.

If I am mentally and emotionally unable to navigate the journey that Yahweh has put me on for today, with the time He has allotted each of us, it is not because I’m “in a season”. It is possibly because I am doing something or carrying something that was never mine to bear. It is possibly because I’m ignoring a system-wide warning sign the Holy Spirit is making me all too aware of. It is possibly because I am failing to do something I KNOW I should do, but am giving myself the excuse to continue in sin. I can’t blame anyone but myself…no one has the power to put anything on me that I don’t also have the power to refuse that task or load. No burden can be put on me that I do not accept. No hardship can be put on me that God has not promised to walk with me, providing me the strength and relief needed to bear through it or take it from me.

I don’t need excuses. I don’t need a vacation. I don’t need attention, comfort, or pity. Those are things my flesh craves. What I need is to be on my knees before the Lord, seeking wisdom for when to say “no”, or “enough”, or “not now.” What I need is to be more discerning in how to bear the burdens of my community WITH Jesus, not AS Jesus. I’m no Messiah. What I need is to be reminded that Jesus is our rest…He is my Sabbath. What I need is to stop denying the Holy Spirit of His function in me and stop trying to BE the Holy Spirit.

How about you? What are you carrying that is not yours to take? What are you trying to do that was never assigned to you? This is not permission to be uncaring or to not participate in the mission of responsibility that God has placed on us as functional members of families, churches, and communities. It’s not permission to forsake responsibility. It is, however, a wake-up call to walk in our calling and in the Spirit – to discern the difference between being like Jesus, being filled with His Spirit and BEING Jesus or His Spirit.