Time to take a break...right?

There is a time for everything.  If you have any question about it, read Ecclesiastes.  But should everything have our time?

Being raised by a pastor I learned quickly that people needed to take a break from ministry.  Sabbaticals are expected and positions at well-off churches have sabbaticals mandated in the contract. But I have always felt that this language was strange.  Yes, Jesus took breaks, but they were short.  He took naps and got away, but He never took months away from His God-ordained ministry.

Just after my most recent burnout, I was faced with the question: How much time is enough?  People kept asking me when I would be back, and I couldn't give them a timeline.  In fact, I was instructed to put no timeline on my "recovery".  But then I went to another church, heard of all the ministries they had going, and saw what an impact I could have.  I have talents that the church could use!  Shouldn't I serve?

Thus began a struggle within myself: to serve or to be served?  And are these two mutually exclusive?  Is there no balance between the two actions?

And, yes, these are both actions.  Most people understand that serving is an action, but I feel that being served takes action from the recipient as well.  We must actively accept the service.  We must allow our hearts to be touched, soften, healed.  If we do not allow these to happen, we will not truly be served.  In a world of doing, it takes a lot of activity to take a breath; to allow the service to heal our poor soul.

Because, when it comes down to it, burnout is really our souls being so drained of resources that we are no longer able to be a resource for others.  Every request for help or advice becomes an aggravation rather than an opportunity.  We stop seeing God in the little moments and only see the amount of energy needed to get to the other side.  Our soul is poor.

And instead of using this moment to feel God's Kingdom in our lives, we see it as a time to retreat from ministry and take a break.  But Jesus tells us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)  This statement is in the present tense meaning the poor in spirit can experience the Kingdom now.  Not in the future.  Not when we are "recovered".  Now.  And because Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom is at hand, we can assume that the poor in spirit experience the Kingdom in a way others cannot.  Or maybe in a way they do not.

We are always taught that when we are the weakest, that is when we can experience the strength of God the most acutely, but then we use our times of weakness as an excuse to "take time off."

And it always sounds so darn spiritual.  "After much prayer and guidance, I have realized that it is time for me to take a short sabbatical.  God is calling me to prioritize my relationship with Him.  I will be taking time off for study and prayer and will come back ready to once again be on the front lines of ministry, able to lead you all once more into battle."  Instead of allowing people to see the God we experience when we are weak, we claim a need for privacy and shut the world out.  Instead of allowing God to show us a different perspective of the world, we shield ourselves from the "harsh world."

Poor in spirit has been equivocated with incompetence.  We no longer have the ability to "do ministry".

But poverty, whether in spirit or in money, is not--and has never been--a Biblical excuse to stop doing ministry.  The only reason to stop doing ministry is if one is living in a lifestyle of sin and therefore is no longer an accurate guide to follow.  In fact, poverty has inspired the church to great things in the past.  God blesses those who express their devotion to Him  despite their poverty and sometimes because of their poverty.

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, Paul tells us of the churches in Macedonia who give out of poverty:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches in Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints---and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

They gave from their joy and poverty.  Their poorness contributed to their giving and can even be seen as a catalyst for the extent of their giving.  They pushed themselves beyond limitation out of their poverty and joy.

The definition of joy here comes from the Greek word charas which properly means "the awareness (of God's) grace, favor" (www.biblos.com).  Thus, out of their extreme poverty and based on their abundant awareness of God's grace and favor in their lives, they gave, first to God and then by God.  And God blessed them with more and more grace in the midst of their trials because of their generosity.

So what does this mean?  We should be giving of ourselves out of our current situation, whatever that may be, while being totally and completely aware of God's presence in our life.  It doesn't matter what our external situation may be.  What matters is where our heart is at.  Are we seeking after God and searching for His presence in our life whatever the circumstance?  Or are we using our current situation as an excuse to stop giving?  Are we allowing God to be bigger than our situation?  Or have we decided that we have to make changes so that we can be more effective, forgetting that God is the one who works in us?