Over Served

By Scott Wetzel

"If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  John 14:15 (NIV)

Recently a young man approached me and told me he was burned out on God.  He said that between finding time to do daily devotions, going to church and different service projects FOR the church, he was tired.  He was working more than 40 hours a week as well.  God didn’t provide him with the freedom he’d read about in the Bible and heard about in church.  It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God, it’s just that God needed to take the back seat for awhile.

I couldn’t blame him.  He was doing a lot of stuff and a lot of it was church centered.  So why was he burned out?  There is supposed to be freedom in Jesus, not burnout.

I have a theory.  Our human nature is to work for things.  It makes sense because we work for paychecks, benefits, and bonuses.  But God’s gift of grace is free.  Think about that for a second and let it sink in.  The gift of grace is FREE.  All we have to do is show up at the foot of the cross.  It’s hard to fathom but when we show up at the foot of the cross (like REALLY show up at the foot of the cross), we realize how much God loves us.  He loves us enough to send His son, Jesus, to be murdered so we could live in eternity.   We are blind to His sacrifice until we sit at the foot of the cross and see it for ourselves.   Before the death of Christ, sins had to be atoned for by us sacrificing.  However, now we aren’t forced to sacrifice anything.  When we realize exactly how much God loves us, it’s hard not to give that back.  If my wife buys me a thoughtful gift, my natural instinct is give back to her.  I’ll clean something or cook a nice meal for her.  I want to give back because I realize how much she loves me.  Now make that realization God sized.

So our real reason for burnout is not because God requires too much of us.  It’s because we don’t realize how much God loves us.  We say we love Jesus and God is good but in our hearts we’ve never allowed the Love of God to flow freely.  Our good works shouldn’t be a way to labor into the kingdom.  If we do it for any other reason than as a love gift to our Creator and Redeemer, then we are doing it for the wrong reason.

If we are living in sin or we have guilt from the past, our nature is to run towards discipline.  We should be running to Jesus.  He’s where we find the strength and passion to live in the discipline that He so desires we have.   If our servitude and discipline are not authentic responses to the Love of God, we will burn out.

Seek God.  Find His Love.  Accept His Grace.  Reciprocate.