Does your spirituality burn you out?
For a while, mine certainly did. I know that I'm not the only one. So many of us who follow Jesus have the best intentions. We're doing all the "right" things but at the same time, there's an underlying sense that something is off. We're spiritually exhausted.
Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11:28-30, that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, is something we need to take seriously. Spirituality is meant to be a wellspring of life, not a leech on it. However we approach God, we always need to keep in mind that He wants what's best for us and for the world - this is the key to a healthy spirituality.
We're all likely familiar with ways that truly good and important movements in the spiritual life can become exhausting when lived to their extremes. Take for example, the moral standard of the Church. These commands are meant to set us free, free to love God, to love others, and to love ourselves. However, when love fails to be the primary motivator for our moral lives, we fall prey to scrupulosity. Rather than relying on the grace of God, we exhaust ourselves trying to "be better" on our own strength.
Similarly, when we reach a certain stage in our Christian maturity, it's essential that we "deconstruct" and look critically at what we believe. This is important because if we don't, we run the risk of building our faith lives on shaky foundations like political beliefs or immature conceptions of moral theology. In this important process, the risk to our emotional and spiritual energy is that we deconstruct without ever finding anything to "reconstruct." As important as criticism is, it's exhausting to live only recognizing problems and never finding meaningful solutions.*
As a final example, we can consider the good and beautiful desire to introduce other people to a relationship with Jesus. At its best, this movement is earnest and authentic - if life with God is as abundant as promised, we should want to share it with other people! If though, we place the burden for evangelization on our own shoulders, seeing it not as something we do joyfully with God but something we must do so that others don't "go to hell" we will inevitably exhaust ourselves (and likely cross some questionable moral and ethical lines in the process). God holds the burden for the world - we can let Him carry it.
Jesus doesn't tell us that the walk of faith isn't difficult; on the contrary He tells us to expect persecution, temptation, conflict, and death. The paradox of His invitation is that these things aren't meant to overwhelm us - they are the easy yoke, the light burden. The rest and abundance offered to us by Jesus far offsets the challenge of pain in the Christian life.
If you have found yourself wrestling with any of these "exhausting extremes" (or all of them, as I have!) it's so helpful to remember this truth - spirituality isn't burdensome, it's life giving. Thus, if the challenges of the spiritual life are moving from a good kind of "wrestling" to spiritual burnout, we should turn to the God who never withholds good gifts from those who ask for rest, restoration, and a healthy way to approach Him.
*A caveat should be made that these solutions don't (and shouldn't!) come easily or quickly. Many (myself included) struggle with good and important criticisms and I believe God lets us stay in those places for a long time to deepen and mature our souls. When we're in this place, the most important thing is to hold on to hope - hope that there is something on the other side of our struggle, even if it's hard to see right now.
For a while, mine certainly did. I know that I'm not the only one. So many of us who follow Jesus have the best intentions. We're doing all the "right" things but at the same time, there's an underlying sense that something is off. We're spiritually exhausted.
Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11:28-30, that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, is something we need to take seriously. Spirituality is meant to be a wellspring of life, not a leech on it. However we approach God, we always need to keep in mind that He wants what's best for us and for the world - this is the key to a healthy spirituality.
We're all likely familiar with ways that truly good and important movements in the spiritual life can become exhausting when lived to their extremes. Take for example, the moral standard of the Church. These commands are meant to set us free, free to love God, to love others, and to love ourselves. However, when love fails to be the primary motivator for our moral lives, we fall prey to scrupulosity. Rather than relying on the grace of God, we exhaust ourselves trying to "be better" on our own strength.
Similarly, when we reach a certain stage in our Christian maturity, it's essential that we "deconstruct" and look critically at what we believe. This is important because if we don't, we run the risk of building our faith lives on shaky foundations like political beliefs or immature conceptions of moral theology. In this important process, the risk to our emotional and spiritual energy is that we deconstruct without ever finding anything to "reconstruct." As important as criticism is, it's exhausting to live only recognizing problems and never finding meaningful solutions.*
As a final example, we can consider the good and beautiful desire to introduce other people to a relationship with Jesus. At its best, this movement is earnest and authentic - if life with God is as abundant as promised, we should want to share it with other people! If though, we place the burden for evangelization on our own shoulders, seeing it not as something we do joyfully with God but something we must do so that others don't "go to hell" we will inevitably exhaust ourselves (and likely cross some questionable moral and ethical lines in the process). God holds the burden for the world - we can let Him carry it.
Jesus doesn't tell us that the walk of faith isn't difficult; on the contrary He tells us to expect persecution, temptation, conflict, and death. The paradox of His invitation is that these things aren't meant to overwhelm us - they are the easy yoke, the light burden. The rest and abundance offered to us by Jesus far offsets the challenge of pain in the Christian life.
If you have found yourself wrestling with any of these "exhausting extremes" (or all of them, as I have!) it's so helpful to remember this truth - spirituality isn't burdensome, it's life giving. Thus, if the challenges of the spiritual life are moving from a good kind of "wrestling" to spiritual burnout, we should turn to the God who never withholds good gifts from those who ask for rest, restoration, and a healthy way to approach Him.
*A caveat should be made that these solutions don't (and shouldn't!) come easily or quickly. Many (myself included) struggle with good and important criticisms and I believe God lets us stay in those places for a long time to deepen and mature our souls. When we're in this place, the most important thing is to hold on to hope - hope that there is something on the other side of our struggle, even if it's hard to see right now.