Episode 348
Overcoming Weariness in Doing Good While Finding Strength in God
"Burnout is not godly. Even if you're doing God's work, if you are burnt out, you are not honoring God nor yourself."- Wesleyne
Word of the Day
"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
Summary
This episode addresses the common struggle of feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. It emphasizes the importance of not growing weary in doing good works, as encouraged by Galatians 6:9. The message highlights the need to prioritize and balance our commitments to avoid burnout while continuing to honor God through our actions. It reassures that taking breaks is necessary and that the harvest from our good works may not always be immediate or visible, but it is assured by God. The episode also clarifies that good works alone do not grant salvation, but they should be performed out of love and obedience to God, contributing to His kingdom.
Takeaways
- When feeling defeated, remember that God is not a God of defeat.
- Negative emotions are tools of the enemy and should not be embraced.
- Letting go of control and surrendering to God allows Him to work in our lives.
- Fully surrendering to God means taking our hands off the situation and trusting Him completely.
- Continually release worries and anxieties to God, trusting that He will take care of them.
Chapters
- 00:00- Feeling Defeated
- 00:58- God is Not a God of Defeat
- 03:18- Fully Surrendering to God
- 05:11- Continuing to Release and Trust
What questions are you struggling to answer? Wesleyne would love to answer these questions for you personally. Send any questions or prayer requests to hello@askwesleyne.com
Follow Wesleyne on Instagram @wesleynewhittaker
Transcript
Have you ever had one of those days when you're like, I am just tired. I am tired physically, I am tired emotionally, mentally, spiritually. I just feel overwhelmed and stretched so thin. I am weary in my bones and I'm just tired. And in those moments when we get weary, the first thing,
that I know I typically do is I start figuring out what I can eliminate, what things I need to stop doing that I'm doing too much of. And sometimes this causes me to say, I need to stop spending time with this person or I need to stop doing this activity. And oftentimes when we have those moments, when we're, when we are weary,
We eliminate the things that may take a lot of our mental energy, but we're doing them for the glory of God. So maybe for you, you say, well, I work all week and I'm really tired. So I'm just gonna skip church on Sunday or on Saturday or on Friday, whenever you go to church. That midweek Bible study I've been going to,
I feel like I just want to rest. I just want to sleep instead of going to church. When we get weary, those are the type of activities that we eliminate. The prayer partner that we've been meeting with every other day, the volunteer activity where we've been feeding the homeless or volunteering at a school.
Those are the things that we give up when we're weary because we can't give up our place of employment, our job. We can't give up on our spouse. We can't give up on our kids.
Wesleyne (:In the verse that I want to share with you today, Galatians 6 verses 9, it says, let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Wesleyne (:Don't be weary in doing good work. The good works that you are doing, God has called you to do those works. He has called you to volunteer in children's ministry. He has called you to work with brand new business owners to help them build their business the right way. He has called you to do this work. And when you are called, you have to remember,
You can't become weary because many are called, but few are chosen. If God chose you to do this work, he not only called you, but he chose you to do this. You can't become weary. Yes, you can take breaks. Yes, you can say, I need a sabbatical or I need to take a couple of weeks off or even share with the person who is planted.
this organization or this ministry or the thing that you're doing, that you need to take a step back. You need to have less responsibility.
but don't get to the point of burnout. This verse is talking about not allowing us to get burnt out. Burnout is not godly. Even if you're doing God's work, if you are burnt out, you are not honoring God nor yourself. And remember, you don't always reap in the same field.
that you are planting. You don't always go and get apples from the apple tree that you planted. Because if we even think about the life cycle of a tree, an apple tree, we plant that seed and it may take decades for an apple to pop up. But you planted that seed and three days later you...
Wesleyne (:reap the harvest on an orange tree. So focus on not reaping necessarily where you sow and think about the fact that burnout is not godly. God does not want you to be in a state where you're so burnt out that you're just exhausted and collapsed at the end of every single day. Don't grow weary.
The work is heavy, the work is hard. Take breaks. Give yourself permission to say, I can do a little bit less and still serve God. And remember, you will reap a harvest. That harvest may be here, that harvest may be in heaven with God. But no.
that as you were doing good works for God to honor him, he is covering you. He is making sure that no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. He is doing those things. And as I wrap up, I do want to distinguish and make sure that you know good works are not what gets you into to heaven. Good works are not what give you salvation. We do.
good work because we are children of God and we love him and there are things that he calls us and commands us to do and in obedience we do them. But if you're just volunteering at a homeless shelter and you haven't given your life to Jesus, you're missing the key part of that verse. You have to be doing this to further the kingdom. The works that you do should be
be to further the kingdom. Don't grow weary, don't burn out, don't overextend yourself, and remember, you will reap a harvest one day.
