Rekindled

by Rocky Fleming

Day Two – Symptoms and Recovery

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  (Mark 6:31 NIV)

I am told that there are some definite symptoms of someone who is dangerously close to burnout.  Here is a description that I read:

“Burnout is commonly described as an exhausted state in which a person loses interest in a particular activity and even in life in general. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, social, and spiritual exhaustion. It can lead to diminished health, social withdrawal, depression, and a spiritual malaise.”

That sounds pretty accurate to me.  It is also discussed that people who are prone to burnout are generally self-reliant, self-sufficient and see their roles as a savior rather than a conduit of God’s wisdom and direction.  This can apply to many of us, especially if we have a keen sense of God’s purpose in our life.  This perspective takes us to the heart of the matter with how we are easily drawn into a dark place of spiritual burnout, for how we see our self and our life for God’s purpose becomes either a union with Him that leads to balance and much fruit, or we do our work for Him instead of with Him, and we are bound for frustration and disappointment … and burnout.  

(So what part of this do you think will cause me to make a case for us to abide in Christ to find this balance?) 

Knowing this, and remembering this, goes a long way toward preventing burnout.  But what if it is too late to prevent it?  What if you are now in the stages listed above?  Is there hope?  You bet there is.  But we need to look to Jesus for the solution.  Look what Jesus did for His disciples in the passage above.

Jesus is demonstrating His role as the “Good Shepherd” for He looked at His sheep, the disciples, and saw their condition, which was weary.  They had been extremely busy doing great things with Jesus.  They were no doubt tired and close to burnout from not only the emotional ups and downs in being part of Jesus’ ministry but as well the sheer exhaustion of serving other people most of the time.  Now, this next point is important to understand, for it points out how Jesus sees the priority of getting out of this state of pre-burnout or its presence in our life.  

NOTE:  In the midst of the busy activity when there were people who still needed to be healed, to be fed, and to be preached to, Jesus told His disciples to, “Come with ME.”   “Come with Me, by yourselves.”  “Come with Me, to a quiet place.”  “Come with Me, and get some rest.”  I would say that these are some clear instructions for dealing with burnout, wouldn’t you?  I would say that Jesus shows us in this interaction with the disciples how and why He refreshes us.  I would also say that it is evident that Jesus sees this as important, and is why He intervened to show us this priority.

Now we need to remember that Jesus is not only Eternal God who created this world and His created beings, at that time He was also a human in every way.  Therefore, if He could suffer under a scourging, and through crucifixion be killed a painful death, He could also fall into His own personal burnout as any man can do if we do not keep our soul healthy.  Jesus had to be concerned about the health of His own soul and it is why we see Him get away to be alone with His Father on numerous occasions.  This getaway for the disciples and their needs included Jesus addressing His own need for rest and restoration.  It is hard to think of Jesus this way, I know, for it seems weak, and Jesus was not weak.  But this condition doesn’t happen because we are weak.  It happens because we are human.  

The truth is we can learn from Jesus by how He saw His own need for taking time to restore as a way to prevent burnout.  It is a warning for all of us.  But there is also good news that there is a solution if you are in the darkness of spiritual burnout presently.  However, you must follow Jesus’ plan for restoration to be lifted out of it.  Tomorrow we will start taking steps toward this restoration, by following His plan.