Burnout or Being: A Better Way

by Keith Watson

“I found myself trying to fix everyone’s problems and everything that was going wrong, and I was burning out.”  Those were the words of one of our Missional Community leaders at a recent training event. You’ve probably felt that way at some point yourself, going out of your way to take care everyone and everything around you, to the point of exhaustion.

At New City we talk a great deal about how the gospel changes our very identity.  We aren’t just saved from eternal condemnation and separation from God when we become believers. We are made new people, God’s people, a family of missionary servants.

·       We are family because God adopts us as his children, making us not only sons and daughters, but brothers and sisters with other believers (Ephesians 1). 

·       We are missionaries because Jesus calls all his disciples to make new disciples (Matthew28:19).  In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that in Christ we are new creatures and then calls us ambassadors for Christ pleading with others to be reconciled in Christ as we have been reconciled.

·       We are servants because God is shaping his children into the people we were meant to be, people like Jesus (Romans 8:29). Jesus came as a servant (Philippians 2), and he told his disciples that he was there, not to be served, but to serve others (Mark 10:45). This means that as we grow in our Christian maturity we should look more and more like him, a servant.

I became a Christian in my mid-twenties.  As I began to learn all of the things a Christian was “supposed to do,” I set out to do them all.  I added “mission” work to my schedule, taking blankets, Bibles, and the gospel to the homeless downtown.  I became active in a Sunday School class and they along with a small group that I met with during the week became family.  I served the homeless, I served my new family in Christ, and I served as a leader in the church’s youth group as well as doing anything else that came up. 

I had added a great deal to my life and eventually it caught up. This is not at all uncommon.  In fact, it seems to be the story of many who come to New City from other churches and ministries.  And sometimes even from our own leaders. We add to plates already filled with husbands, wives, children, friends, and work, a thousand other things to “do.” 

Is that the life that Jesus intended us to live, a life filled to our capacity and then some, a life that so full that we are led to exhaustion and burnout?  I don’t think so. Jesus told his disciples and he tells us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Many people have worked themselves to burnout as “good Christians,” and when they discover that this is not the life that Jesus intended for them, or that it is just too hard to do what Jesus asks, they quit.  This too is common.  We step away from the family of God, we stop the mission that we added to our lives, and too tired and stretched too thin, we stop serving.  It makes sense, on some level.  We added these things and they led to burnout, so we remove these things and restore “normalcy.”

This is all wrong! Jesus does not require us to work ourselves into burnout; but we are called to a life of obedience to God and service for his kingdom.
Jesus wants us to be active and giving family members.
He expects us to participate in his mission of redemption and restoration.
Shaped into his image, we serve as he has served.
Not as additions— but as we go.

I don’t believe that Jesus calls us to add “new family” things, “mission work” things, and “areas to serve” to our already full calendars and busy lives.  I believe he calls us to live out our new identities as family, missionary and servant “as we go” about the daily routines of our lives.  These are identities – they describe who we now are in Christ. They are not additions to our lives.

In the Great Commission of Matthew 28, Jesus tells his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (ESV).  We are probably familiar with this passage if we have been in church very long!
But here’s the thing-- Jesus didn’t say, “Go.”
A better translation, I believe, as a participle, is “As you go, make disciples of all nations…”
This is a big deal!

Jesus wasn’t telling his disciples that they needed to add to family and home and work also GOING somewhere else to be a missionary.  He was telling them that they are now missionaries!  And As They Go about their lives – going to the market, to a friend’s house, to a wedding, to work… they are missionaries and they should make disciples.

I think the same applies to life with our new family and life as a servant! These aren’t calls to add things to our lives, they are identities that we simply live out as we go about our lives.  We are servants at home with our spouse and children.  We are also missionaries there!  The same is true when we go to work or to our children’s soccer game.

While it is certainly true that God calls some to far away lands or to start ministries to the homeless, most of us are simply called to be who he has made us, as we go about the normal rhythms of life. 
Do you cook dinner for your family?  Cook a little extra and invite a brother or sister in Christ to join you or maybe invite a coworker who doesn’t know or love Jesus.
Going out to eat?  Let your friends or family in Christ know where you’re going and invite them to join you.
Like outdoor activities?  Invite a classmate, coworker or friend or family member to join you.
Don’t just “go to church” on Sunday morning, go early and serve as a greeter or monthly in the kid’s area.
I could go on and on with the “as you go” opportunities!  They are as endless as our lives are busy!

This is the better way.  This, I believe, is the life that Jesus intended for us, not a life of burnout, not a life of quitting, but a life being, as we go.