ON-FIRE BURNOUTS
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are…”~ Jam. 5:17
Those familiar with Bible biographies know that Elijah was a man on fire for God, to say the least. But they’re also aware of the fact, to use modern day vernacular, that he was a burn-out. So much so that he wanted to die. And he is not alone in having this dreadful experience; men such as Moses, David, Jonah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist— along with a host of other godly saints— were acquainted with it. That dreadful experience being to have the fire on their altar go out.
This is not an ancient problem among God’s elect; read the biographies of Christians from church history, but it’s a contemporary plague as well. Invariably when burn-out occurs you’ll find that the one reduced to an ash heap forgot their humanity. They put more on their plates than they could digest. There are boundaries we each must set for ourselves, limits we dare not go past. Remember, the laws of nature are the laws of God!
My puffed up ego used to say, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.” That sounds spiritual, but it is not scriptural. Satan is an expert in pushing the consecrated believer beyond his or her limit— not in the area of vileness, but of virtue. But the everlasting memorial Jesus put upon a life was, “She hath done what she could” not what she couldn’t. Those who keep their nose to the grindstone will ultimately end up with no nose. Don't lose your essentials.
Our Lord Jesus was fully aware if He was to keep His followers “fine tuned,” that they’d need a break from time to time. “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Mk. 6:31 Each: body, soul and spirit needs a time of relaxation from the everyday duties. To step back is the best way to comeback, I find. “Two steps backward-three steps forward,” they say.
Taking long walks, reading a good book (unrelated to your general reading), having a social time with friends, can be just as helpful in the Lord’s work as, “the knee drill,” as one writer put it.
An Aged Saint