Burnout and Rest

Benjamin L. Corey posted consecutive blogs recently listing 5 reasons so many Christians are feeling burned out right now and 5 things you need to take a break from to avoid spiritual burnout. Lots of wisdom here. If you’re feeling like you might be experiencing burnout, you’re going to want to check these out.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll find there:

Well, it seems that Jesus had built into his life a habit of getting away from whatever things existed in his life that could have led to spiritual burnout. In the book of Luke we find a very important statement:

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.” (5:16)

I personally really like the rendering of the International Standard Version of this verse, which words it: “However, he (Jesus) continued his habit of retiring to deserted places and praying.”

While there is a host of good stuff one could glean from this verse (such as the aspect of prayer which is not covered by this post), what I appreciate the most is that Jesus knew when he needed to take a break from some things. And, if even Jesus– the Son of God– had to take a break from life-draining things, why would we buy the lie that we can chug along indefinitely without taking a break ourselves?

Image by Skley via Flickr