Why does it seem there’s never any time these days?
I look at my schedule and it’s packed. I talk to my students and they’re off to volleyball practice, fine arts, dance and then homework. It’s a full time job just getting your kid to where they need to be on time!
I “googled” the question ‘what causes spiritual burnout?’ There were 60,000,000 results that came up.
I began to ask myself this question: how did Jesus handle burnout?
With the fast-paced lifestyle we live in today, it seems inevitable that we will experience some form of burnout.
I came across this message from David Platt:
[youtube video=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49dytWtGPTU”]
Here’s 3 points to help recap this message
- Matthew – written by Matthew (Jewish tax collector) 70-75AD sometime after the temple was destroyed. His audience was Jewish. Lots of old testament prophesy. Major theme: Kingdom of Heaven
- Mark – written by John Mark (friends w/ Peter) written sometime before the destruction of the temple. He is writing to gentile Christians in Rome who are experiencing intense persecution by the Roman government. Major theme; Jesus is the suffering servant of God.
- Luke – written by Luke (Gentile physician: wrote the book of Acts) *he is the only gentile author in the bible. He is writing his gospel to Theophilus, meaning “the one who loves God.” The Major theme: The perfect humanity of Jesus Christ.
A day in the life of Jesus
If you read Mark 1:21-35, you can get a great summary of a day in the life of Jesus. This is how I see it…
Early morning: travel to Capernaum with disciples.
Late morning: stop into the synagogue and cast out a demon.
Lunch time: visit Simon and Andrew’s house.
Afternoon: Heal Simon’s mother-in-law from a high fever and sickness.
Dinner time: Enjoy dinner made by the lady He just healed.
Early evening: heal more sick people. cast out more demons.
Late evening: Continue to heal sick and cast out demons.
Sounds exhausting, huh? He would have had to walk and we don’t know how far it would be to travel from the synagogue to Simon’s house. It could have been a block or a couple miles for Jesus and his disciples to walk.
So how did Jesus not get physically, emotionally, & spiritually burned out?
The very next verse, verse 35 says: “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”
I believe Jesus was tired emotionally, physically, and spiritually. The bible says that he was fully God but he was fully man as well. Being fully man, he would feel all of the same things we feel when we are overextended and over committed. However, Jesus did not neglect the most important relationship in His life. He knew that his source was God. We see where Jesus made a priority to get alone with God and spend time with Him. (Mark 1:35,Mark 6:45-46, Mark 14:32-34, Luke 4:42, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12)
There should be no reason we couldn’t connect with God. If we want to be refreshed and experience incredible times with God, the first step is to get into his presence.
It might seem impossible to carve out a full hour or two during your day. But, what about your 15 minute drive to work or the time it takes to fold your laundry? What is holding us back from connecting to God during these times? Imagine what our lives would look like if we spend an hour a day every day seeking God. Pastor Kim gave a statistic that the average christian spends less than 90 seconds a day in prayer. What if the average for our church was an hour a day?
Pastor Steven Furtick said Jesus doesn’t want the top priority in your life. He wants to be in every part of your life. He was referring to how we compartmentalize our lives and how we exclude Jesus from the majority of our everyday lives.
Let’s be intentional about connecting with our God.
The spiritual thermometer for your life and the life of your family is set by you. Lets set it high. I believe when we do, we’ll experience a refreshing of the spirit of God that will carry us through all the seasons of life. Lets make a commitment to seek God everyday and not allow any circumstances, distractions, or time consumers take are focus off of God.