Rust Out Or Burn Out? What Kind of Choice Is That?

Rust Out Or Burn Out? What Kind Of Choice is That?

I want to share some thoughts about the manner in which we are driving our bodies and minds as we conduct life and ministry these hectic days. I long ago concluded that our church members were on the very edge of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion on any given day. That is why, at Salem Baptist Church, we are consciously trying to reduce the number of days per weeks and extra meetings we ask the people of God to attend. The thoughts in the next several postings are based on an article that I read some years ago called Preventing Burnout, by Chris Dodd.

In Job 17:1, Job had every reason to be concerned about his life, family, and belongings. Financially he was ruined. Physically he was wasting away with disease. His marriage was a discordant mess, and his family all but gone. I would say that his stress level was significantly high. In fact, today we would probably say that he was burned out.

Burnout is one of those relatively new words that finds its origin in space exploration. The word is indicative of a rocket that is out of fuel. The World Book Dictionary defines burned-out as used up or extinguished. It also defines the expression burnt-out as exhausted, used-up, or dissipated.

When applied to the human being, burned-out indicates that one has spent all of his/her personal resources. It is a state of brokenness in which one can no longer function in life. Some of us have been or are there. To measure the degree of burnout, one would check your physical/emotional life as one would check an automobile gasoline gauge. Some of us are half-full, or a quarter-full, or have a blinking emotional light in our minds indicating that total emotional collapse is imminent.

One of the reasons for writing about this issue is the undue pressure I have felt over the years of my ministry (particularly the younger years when I was in college) to burnout rather than rust out for God. If you want to be successful, you have to give everything. But I have a feeling that it is time to allow the people of God to get off the guilt trip. Remember that balance is written in the constitution of God’s universe. Would not a balance of burning and rusting be a well-oiled, well-conditioned, machine ready for service.

Howard L. Wilburn