April 21, 2012
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile." He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat. -- Mark 6: 30-31 (NLT)
The Christian experience is called a "walk" for a reason. It is not meant to be a sprint but rather, a marathon. It is not the one who burns the hottest that lasts but the one who burns the longest. How many times do we see people "flame out" in their walk? They are saved and on fire for God but the grind of life and the worries of this world start to erode their passion until they are burnt out. How many pastors do we see who simply do not make it to the finish line? Multitasking to the point of exhaustion. Working at great sacrifice to their health and their families. Sometimes receiving no consideration or even worse, betrayal for their efforts.
In the key verses today we see a principle laid out for us by Jesus Himself regarding the correct approach to managing our ministry efforts for the Lord. The disciples had just returned after being sent out for the first time alone. They must have been excited at all that had occurred and were eagerly telling Jesus about their efforts and success. Jesus stops them dead in their tracks and within His response are three principles we need to internalize in our walk and ministries to avoid burnout. The first principle is that sometimes you need to remove yourself from the clamor. You need to step back and away from all of the noises and distractions this world has to offer and just spend time with Jesus. Ministry is important. The work of the Kingdom is important. But not more important than your own relationship with Christ. That is why in the story of Mary and Martha we see Jesus say that Mary, who represents our walk with Christ, has chosen the better thing over Martha, who represents our ministry for Christ. Never let your work for God develop a noisy spirit inside of you that drowns out your relationship with Him.
Secondly -- we need to rest! Jesus knows full well that our propensity even when we are alone and away from the noise is still to be working. I know for myself sometimes it is much easier to write when I am supposed to reflecting. Personal time with Jesus is where the Lord can speak to us about the things we are doing that might be hindering our walk. But we often do not like to hear the truth. Better to work than rest but Jesus says here to His disciples and to us today -- find the quiet place and rest awhile! A sure fire way to burn yourself out is to never recharge your batteries. A restful spirit is less likely to become resentful. Less likely to have a short temper. Less likely to give the devil any kind of foothold upon which to build. Get away from the noise and rest.
Lastly, Jesus said these things because there were so many people coming and going that they didn't even have time to eat. A couple of points here. We always have time eat and take care of ourselves. We may choose to play the martyr at our own expense but we can always choose to take care of ourselves too. Let's face it -- when our ministry grows and people start relying upon us more and more it will sure seem like everyone keeps coming and going so fast that there is not time to take care of ourselves. Jesus is saying that we need to make sure that we do. That regardless of our responsibilities we also must be responsible to ourselves. I might add here that it is not just physical nourishment Jesus might be talking about here. We need spiritual nourishment. Our devotional life cannot be whittled down to a couple of paragraphs per day that someone else has written based upon their reading of the Word of God. We must read for ourselves, be fed ourselves, and be thus nourished ourselves. We cannot pretend that we can feed people on yesterday's manna -- or even worse -- yesterday's manna from someone else! God will always have fresh manna for us. A fresh Word from Him into our hearts.
God has called us to a work but He has not asked us
to be foolish in how we go about it. We need to step back and away from the
noisiness in this world to get alone with Christ. We need to spend that alone
time in our relationship with the Lord -- not our work for Him. Lastly, we need
to feed ourselves regularly -- both the food of this earth and the food from
heaven -- God's Word. Then we can manage the trials of ministry and be more
effective in the long run of this marathon for Jesus.
Rev. Anthony
