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When “All You’ve Got” Isn’t Much

We have a friend who’s a good man. He loves God, and he loves his family. He’s a loyal husband, good friend, hard worker. He prays for guidance, volunteers at church, shares the gospel. He goes to this Bible study, and that small group. He’s a good man. And he’s totally burned out.

He’s exhausted. So are some people in your church–maybe even you. The advice we most commonly give to people in this situation? "Do more." 

We have a friend who’s a good man. He loves God, and he loves his family. He’s a loyal husband, good friend, hard worker. He prays for guidance, volunteers at church, shares the gospel. He goes to this Bible study, and that small group. He’s a good man. And he’s totally burned out.

He’s exhausted. So are some people in your church–maybe even you. The advice we most commonly give to people in this situation? "Do more." 

"Have you tried getting up early to pray? God will expand your time for the rest of your day." "You should carry your Bible with you wherever you go. You’d be surprised how many verses you can read in the line at the grocery store."  "I cut out watching the news. I listen to worship music during that instead, and I feel so connected to God now." 

In our 10-step, over-scheduled,self-improvement culture, we assume that
the answer to any spiritual problem is to do more. Pray more, work
more, read your Bible more. These are good things, but sometimes the answer isn’t to do more. It’s to do less. Sometimes the answer is to stop swirling and rest in Jesus. Rather than putting on more man-assigned duties, Jesus invites us a restful relationship: [bible]Matthew 11:29[/bible]

We’ve all had times when we were overextended. A new baby, a new Bible study, too many commitments to too many good things–they can wipe you out. You feel guilty, distant from God, exhausted. The last thing you want to hear is that you’re not doing enough. 

[bible]Mark 12:30[/bible] We’re supposed to give Him all we’ve got. Sometimes giving God all you’ve got means teaching Sunday School, volunteering at the homeless shelter, raising money for missionaries and knitting sweaters for 3-legged chihuahuas in your spare time.

Other times, giving Him all you’ve got means just getting out of bed in the morning–and that’s okay. Jesus doesn’t doesn’t love you any less if you don’t do all that stuff. And he doesn’t love you any more if you do. 

Love the Lord your God with all of you’ve got…even if that means just getting through today. 

Laura Singleton’s passion is the transformation that happens when women get access to God’s Word and God’s Word gets access to women. She was twenty-five when her life was turned upside down by an encounter with Jesus Christ. With an insatiable thirst for scripture and theology, she soon headed to Dallas Theological Seminary to learn more about Jesus, and left with a Th.M. with an emphasis in Media Arts. She, along with two friends from DTS, travel the nation filming the independent documentary Looking for God in America. She loves speaking and teaching and is the author of Insight for Living Ministry’s Meeting God in Familiar Places and hundreds of ads, which pay the bills. Her big strong hubby Paul is a former combat medic, which is handy since Laura’s almost died twice already. She loves photography, travel and her two pugs.

3 Comments

  • Gaye Austin

    Time and commitments
    How I agree with you, we fail to realize that God gives us each the same amount of time but we seem to think that we are to use those 24 hrs. productively. Sometimes as you say productively might just mean being quiet before Him as you rest in bed! That is sort of a duh in my book. Sometimes it is to serve another. The key is do all to glorify Him. If we are failing in that dept then we are failing period.

    Good thoughts, very appropriate for this season!
    Gaye

  • Laura Singleton

    A letter to my future self…
    Wow, I’m so glad God prompted this post two weeks ago. Since then, as hubby calculated, we’ve had 3.5 hours of unscheduled time. Add the weight of a dirty house, emails unread, phone calls unreturned, writing deadlines for various ministries; multiply by