Challenge 44. Blog 20

This blog is the last of my three-part blog series about Christian burnout. Click here to read Part 1. Click here to read Part 2.

Here’s what we’ve covered so far about Christian burnout:

• “Burnout is the loss of meaning in one's work, coupled with mental, emotional, or physical exhaustion as the result of long-term, unresolved stress.” (This definition is from The Reignite Project.)
• Christian burnout sometimes happens as we do our Christian calling.
• Burnout can damage physical health, relationships, emotional well-being, and spiritual strength.
• Robert Cole identified 6 stages of burnout.
• Signs of burnout go from Yellow Alert Status to Red Alert Status.
• I believe that Christian burnout can often be prevented. I’m not totally convinced that all Christian burnout is possible.

That last bullet point is controversial!

Is Christian burnout always preventable? Biblically, this is not a simple answer!

God does indeed love us. He wants us to have His peace, grace, strength, courage, freedom, and rest:

• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
• Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:2)
• But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
• Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)
• Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
• Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
• It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. (Galatians 5:1)

But God also calls us to great sacrifice, service, and perseverance:

• I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
• Then [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
• But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (Philippians 2:17)
• Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24)
• I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)
• Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Everyday life—if life is long enough—might also suggest that some kind of burnout is inevitable:

• Christians called to volunteer service in a church, community, family, or workplace often work tirelessly for decades, and usually experience burnout at least once.
• Christian entrepreneurs eventually experience burnout.
• Christians called to caregiving for a disabled or mentally incapacitated loved one typically suffer all 6 stages of burnout.
• People in many countries are even imprisoned or killed because of their faith in Christ.

Is burnout always preventable? I don’t know for sure. We’re probably going to have to live with some uncertainty about that!

However, research shows that most burnout is indeed preventable, because most burnout is not caused by circumstances but by our responses to circumstances. For example, two people can experience similar stressful circumstances over the same long period of time, but one person burns out while the other person adjusts and thrives.

During this blog series, I’ve compared different aspects of human burnout to the spectacularly flaming burnout of a volcano eruption. But here’s a difference. Volcanic eruptions cannot be prevented. Human burnout usually can.

How to Prevent Burnout

Robert Cole’s first stage of burnout is weariness—which is constant tiredness over a long period of time—after which burnout proceeds rapidly through the remaining stages of cynicism, bitterness, despair, depression, and burnout.

Therefore, burnout is most easily prevented during the initial stage of weariness. But how?

Recall that “Burnout is the loss of meaning in one's work, coupled with mental, emotional, or physical exhaustion as the result of long-term, unresolved stress.” 

This definition suggests 4 proven burnout strategies:

1.  Refill your physical and mental reservoirs:

Prioritize rest and recreation. (Click here for more about Sabbath rest.)

Prioritize. Do important, urgent tasks first. Important tasks are those that make the most difference long-term. Urgent tasks are those that must be done soon if they are done at all. (Click here for more about prioritizing.)

2.  Recharge your emotions:

Discover and live your personal core values. (Click here for more about core values.)

3.  Restore meaning to life and work:

Discover and live your core values! Yes, I said it again, because this really is key to burnout recovery! (Click here for more about core values.)

4.  Refresh your relationship with God:

Grow your relationship with God in a new way, based not on what you do but on who you are. (Click here for more about conversations with God.)

Joy from the Ashes of Burnout

But what if it’s too late for burnout prevention? What if you’re already in full-blown burnout?

When active volcanoes erupt on the islands of Hawaii, and hot molten lava destroys all vegetation in the area, you’d think nothing would ever grow there again. And sometimes it doesn’t, for decades. But then a brilliant Hawaiian flower called ōhiʻa lehua (pronounced o-HEE-ah lay-HOO-ah) suddenly sprouts up, seeming out of thin air. In the barren conditions of a former lava flow, the ōhiʻa lehua plant grows as a samll, twisted shrub. Eventually, in more fertile conditions, the shrub grows into a tree more than 100 feet tall.

So also, God brings incredible beauty, resilience, and fruitfulness from the ashes of Christian burnout.

I personally do not know any magnificently fruitful and joyful Christians who have not burned out!

Most of the time, they burn out because they tried to do part of God’s job as well as their own, thereby not maintaining good physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health. But sometimes, seemed to do those things reasonably well, but they burned out anyway.

However, most of those previously burned-out Christians say that God used that deep valley of burnout for His glory and for their ultimate good. In fact, burnout often begins or develops during dark times of our lives that Tony Stoltzfus refers to as Life Calling Valleys. (Click here for more about Christian Calling valleys.)

The main strategy for Christian burnout recovery is the same as navigating a Life Calling Valley: Refresh your relationship with God! 

Grow your relationship with God in a transformationally new way, based not on what you do but on who you are. (Click here for more about conversations with God.)

Action Steps

Even if you have already ingloriously burned out in service to Christ, He will restore you and bless you beyond what you ever imagined:

In [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:12-21)

If you are currently in any stage of burnout, what do you sense God telling you to do about it?

How has God raised you from the ashes of Christian burnout before? How does He want to do it now?

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