Say No To Burnout
Page Two
Is It Necessary to Burn Out in Order to Get Things Done?
It is beyond dispute that God used people like Peter Marshall and J. B. Phillips in unusual ways. The question is whether the impact of their lives was improved or diminished by their burning out for God?
I first asked this question of myself when I wearily entered the work force and had one of my first real glimmers that burning out for God might not be God's desire for me. I was reading the biography of Hudson Taylor's daughter-in-law, Geraldine Taylor. She was the chronicler of that great missionary endeavor, the China Inland Mission (CIM), now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship. The CIM looms big in the history of Christian missions since it was the first attempt to reach all of the interior of China for Christ. Because my aunt had been a missionary with the CIM, I had read books about its founder, Hudson Taylor, since childhood.
But as I read a letter from Geraldine Taylor's father to his daughter, my whole approach to missions—and my lifestyle— came under question:
"How well I understand that nervous breaking down from which you have suffered. Let it be a warning. There is a limit you should not attempt to pass in exhausting labors. It is not easy to fix it, but experience shows pretty clearly where it is. I have gone beyond it at times, when all the foundations of life seemed gone. I cannot express what that means, and hope that you will never know. Most people have no conception how thin the foundations are which keep them above the abyss, where the interests of life exist no more. Learn to say 'No' to invitations or calls to labour which destroy the power to labour and the possibility of service."
 As Christians we are called to
balance, not imbalance, even
in the area of our work for God.
This private letter from a father to his daughter was the beginning of my awareness that as Christians we are called to balance, not imbalance, even in the area of our work for God—perhaps especially in our work for Him. God deserves not only enthusiasm and driving effort, but also the quality of a job done with care and balance.
Does God Ever Call Us to Burn Out for Him?
Many biblical principles have exceptions. There are times when we may be called to temporarily live on a high wire. Peter, after all, was once told to walk on water quite literally. But the fact remains that he only endured as long as he kept his eyes on Christ, and neither Peter nor anyone else that we know of was ever told to do it again. "To burn out for God" for any length of time is not a command which many of us receive in our lifetimes, but it can happen. It is also important, however, to reemphasize that such a command is rare and that it is vital to know that the order does truly come from God Himself and not from ourselves. One way of validating what we feel is guidance from God is to ask our family and those who know us best. Another way is to take a hard look at our potentially hidden motives.
During the last few months of World War II a young Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg was sent to Hungary to save the last intact group of Jews alive in Europe at the end of the war. On July 9, 1944, Wallenberg left for Budapest. By the end of January 1945, he and a handful of colleagues had saved a hundred thousand Jews from death by the Nazis. He himself was then taken prisoner by the Soviet Union, captured by the very armies which had come to liberate the same people whom Wallenberg had so valiantly rescued from the Nazis. Why he was captured can only be a matter of speculation. In the year 2000 he was officially considered to have been murdered in the then Soviet prison system.
For the seven months of the rescue of "his Jews," as they came to be called, Wallenberg worked day and night against the clock. Nazi henchman Adolf Eichmann had vowed, even in the face of Hitler's defeat, to finish off the extermination of the Jews in Europe; and the "Jew dog Wallenberg" became Eichmann's greatest enemy. Only by quick action, clever acts of deceit and grueling hours of work could Eichmann and his Nazi machine be defeated. Right before his capture by the Russians, Wallenberg was described as "pale and exhausted." The life style of burning out was showing.
In his last conversation with Wallenberg, as Nazi revenge against Wallenberg accelerated, his co-worker and friend Per Anger begged him to hide and save himself. But Wallenberg replied that he could not leave until he had done everything possible to save the remaining Jews and to help restore them to normal life. No rational person could fault such an approach under the conditions of those closing, desperate months of World War II. To me, the example of Raoul Wallenberg is strikingly clear as the exception to a life lived in moderation and balance. There simply was no other way.
There is but a certain quantity of
spiritual force in any man. Spread it over
a broad surface, the stream is shallow
and languid; narrow the channel
and it becomes a driving force.
Yet for most of us most of the time, burnout only hurts the quality of our work and diminishes the quantity. A long time ago Samuel Rutherford wrote words which have become engraved on my consciousness: "There is but a certain quantity of spiritual force in any man. Spread it over a broad surface, the stream is shallow and languid; narrow the channel and it becomes a driving force." Trying to do everything makes our lives into broad, shallow and languid streams. Focusing our energies, on the other hand, can help us accomplish great things.
God is infinite. We are not. He never intended us to be. He can walk on water. We can't. When we try to go beyond what God has commanded us to do, we can become confused by God's apparent lack of help as we begin to sink. We forget that God has only pledged His support to that which He has commanded us to do. His work receives His supply and no more. We cannot do it all.
What Is the Difference Between Being Poured Out for God and Burning Out?
There is a difference between burning out for God and being poured out for God. Christ's life was balanced. He was not frustrated or hurried. Yet He came to this earth to give His all. In His redemptive act on the cross He gave the ultimate in obedience and sacrifice. He was poured out.
 Continued on Page Three
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