As God’s people on mission to see goodness and justice flourish in the world, I suspect that we have all experienced symptoms of burnout to a certain degree. Some of the elements of burnout are inherently tied to living in the current age of “the already and the not yet.” We know that we are united to Christ, that God has promised restoration in the end, and that evil is already defeated, but we gasp for air in a world riddled with sin. Existing in this continual, existential dissonance is exhausting. Simultaneously, we grapple with trauma, isolation, fear, anxiety, distrust, pride, selfishness, and earnest desires to do good in the world – all of which can also trigger burnout.

When we do experience burnout, we may be quick to place blame and experience shame. We might turn toward ourselves with criticism and anger, rather than with curiosity, self-compassion, and grace. Then we may decide that our feelings of burnout are invalid, unworthy, and even laced with sin. We are good at convincing ourselves that if we could just improve our work ethic and efficiency, get better coping skills, take a nap, pray harder, go on vacation, and repent of the pride that surely led to our burnout, we would get better. Right? 

I love how Paul frames his calling to Christians to do good work in his letter to the Ephesians. In chapter two, Paul addresses both the Gentile and Jewish Christians in Asia Minor, reminding them of their salvation journey – from lifelessness to being part of the kingdom of God (Eph. 2:4-7). With this new identity in mind, he calls his readers to a new life, one marked by carrying out the good works set forth by the Lord. The blessing of this calling is that Paul’s readers are not left to complete these good works in their own skills and determination. Instead, Paul immediately assures us that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good things for the kingdom of God (Eph. 2:8-10). 

In the midst of all of the things that God has called us to do, He has promised to be with us and to equip us with what we need. He is very aware of our human capacities – He created them! And yet, we continue to demand superhuman levels of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength from ourselves. What would happen if we instead treated our burnout as a cry for help from inside of us? As a signal that our body’s capacity had been tapped, that her limits had been exceeded? In short, what if we viewed burnout is an excruciating result of experiencing our human limitations? 

Between Paul’s call to do good works because God has equipped us to do them, and the reminder that we can only demand so much from ourselves, I hope that we can become more comfortable with naming our symptoms of burnout without shame.