Have you ever felt like the Christian life isn’t worth it? Is it too hard with sometimes seemingly little results?
While being a Christian in the world today can be hard and in some places very costly, I believe there is a cure for those days when it is too overwhelming.
It is ok to feel like it is hard to live a life that honors God. Others in the Bible felt the same way. David has asked God why it was hard and where had God gone in those times.
Job defiantly asked, “Why am I doing this? When will it ever get easier?”
Jeremiah asked those questions and shared his state of ‘burnout” with the Lord. The list goes on. The point of this blog isn’t that it’s ok to feel like giving up because everyone does. It’s about how to recognize those feelings quickly and get back on the straight and narrow path the Lord has called you to.
In a season when things were hard, ministry felt hard, and I wasn’t seeing any results from what I was doing; I read these verses in my devotions – Galatians 6:10-12:
“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
These verses are not just for those who are pastors or work in the church. We are all called to ministry at some level. We are Christ’s ambassadors on Earth. We are called to share His love with those who don’t know Him yet and encourage those who already walk with Him.
The word unjust means “A violation of God’s standards; to be found wrong in the courts of heaven.” It is impossible for Christ to overlook our work. It goes directly against His character and nature and would be breaking one of His own heavenly rules.
We know He will always see our service even in those times when we FEEL like no one knows what we are doing or how we are serving. GOD always SEES!
The word earnestness means “Speedy diligence; one’s best.” For the believer it means quickly obeying what the Lord reveals is His priority. This elevates the better over the good – the most important over the important.
In those times when we feel burned out, it could be that we have missed the leading of the Lord to shift ever so slightly our focus of what the most important is at that moment. When we know we are focusing on the exact thing God wants, then we go back to the idea that He sees us. He acknowledges our hard work.
The word sluggish means “To become spiritually dull.” In my own wording, sluggish is what burnout feels like.
Do you want to know how we defeat the enemy? We remind him and ourselves that God sees our efforts. We stop the lie that says no one cares that you are doing (you fill in the blank) for the kingdom. No one would even notice if you stopped doing this. This is a lie because according to Galatians 6:10 the Lord sees, and He trumps everyone and everything else that tells us differently.
We must seek God and ask Him to tell us His priorities in our lives and ask Him where He wants us to spend our energies for this season. We must be continually seeking Him in this area so that our hope doesn’t grow dim and fade away.
When we do this, we will not become sluggish. We will refresh ourselves and become people who have great faith that we will inherit the promises God has confirmed to us in His word.