The thing about burnout is that you don’t know you’re susceptible until it’s too late. You were flying high in ministry, and then all of a sudden you’ve crashed.
The natural busyness of ministry can lead to burnout, but that is not something we can control. Our best defense against that kind of burnout is simply to stay organized.
But often, we pastors are our own worst enemy when it comes to burning out. We bring it upon ourselves in ways we don’t realize.
And that is why it sneaks up on us.
Here are three ways that happens.
1. Ministering with a celebrity pastor conscience
You probably respect the ministries of guys like Tim Keller, John Piper, D.A. Carson, and many others like them. But when you make them the standard for ministry, you overburden yourself. Have you ever asked yourself:
Am I inspiring my people toward mission enough?
Am I preaching God’s glory enough?
Are my sermons exegetical enough?
If you operate as if every area of your ministry has to measure up to the strengths of every celebrity pastor, you’ve made two mistakes.
First, you have installed a new legalism. Those rules are too heavy for you to bear.
Second, you have lowered the bar on ministry, since your calling contains more than inspiring mission, instilling God’s glory and instructing God’s people.
Rather than relying on celebrity pastors as your guide, you must rely on Jesus who is your God.
2. Forgetting that you’re finite
Let’s face it, there are Bible verses that make pastors feel invincible. Take Col. 1:29, for example:
For this, I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
We can read that verse and think it gives us superhuman strength. But that is simply not true.
Do we have all the strength Jesus works in us? Yes.
But does he work all of his strength in us? No, he doesn’t.
Did you read over “toil” and “struggling,” and skip right to “powerfully works within me”? Jesus works his power in us within the context of tiring, resistance-laden work.
