Paul's (and Jerry Seinfeld's) Guide to Avoiding Christian Burnout

I stumbled on an old Jerry Seinfeld clip the other day. It was a video of his appearance on the Jay Leno show just after his popular sitcom, Seinfeld, had come to a close. In this clip, Jerry announced to Jay Leno that he was taking a break from being funny because after nine years of spending every day trying to make people laugh he was just plain tired. "Being funny, he exclaimed, is exhausting! I need a break! So if it's okay with you Jay, I'd prefer this be a serious interview about serious things."

"Sure," Jay said with a grin. "Let's talk about something serious." "So, you fly quite a bit in your profession. Is there anything about flying that really irritates you?" Of course, with that opening, Seinfeld couldn't help himself. He immediately launched into a bit about pilots who feel they have to share every detail about what is going on in the cockpit. "We're dropping down 20,000 feet now." "We're banking to the right now." "Why do they feel they have to do that?" "We don't go up and knock on the cockpit door and say, 'Hey, I just wanted to let you know, I'm eating the peanuts now...'"

Now it was obvious this whole bit between Seinfeld and Leno was just that, a bit, a fairly transparent one at that. But the premise of this little bit they did resonated with me on a spiritual level. Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian. He can't not be a comedian. He can't help being funny, even if he wanted to. It is who he is.

What about you? As a Christian can you not help but be a Christian? Is it who you are? Or, do you at times feel, well, a little burned out on the whole Christianity thing? Do you just feel sometimes like you've reached the end of your rope? Do you occasionally get overwhelmed or frustrated with striving to do the things you should, becoming the person you know you ought to be? If you were completely honest with yourself, are there moments when you'd like to stop struggling "to put on Christ" and just set Him aside for a little while?

Let's face it, while there are some "christians", little "c", who seem content to wear the shoes of discipleship once a week on their walk through the doors of their church, for most of us, walking this walk is a full time, boots on the ground, twenty-four seven, affair. We do get weary. We do become exhausted and overwhelmed from time to time. After all, the road we are called to travel is not called the "wide and luxurious way."  It's often painfully narrow and uncomfortable.

In II Corinthians 4 the Apostle Paul writes "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body...For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

If anyone had the right to Christian burn out it would be Paul. He, it seems, never got a break. No sooner had he suffered stoning in one city then was he cast into prison in another. How easy would it have been for him to throw up his hands and cry, "God, can't I have a little break here!?" "Could I get maybe just one weekend laying on a hammock in the Caribbean?" "Maybe send me to a little peaceful back water of a town where I can keep my mouth shut and go incognito for a few months? This whole roller coaster of a walk you have me on here is just a little much don't you think?!"

Of course he could have gone there, but he didn't. In fact, if we are to believe what he writes in his letters to the brethren (and based on the example of his life, there is no reason not to) the idea of kicking up his feet in a hammock somewhere never crossed his mind.

Why? Because it was who he was. Or rather, it was who he had submitted himself to be. He was animated not by his own energy, by his own strength, but by the life of Jesus Christ living in Him through the Holy Spirit.

It was that life, manifesting Himself in Paul, that motivated him and kept his feet walking the straight and narrow path Christ had set for Him.

Throughout his many letters Paul repeatedly pointed to where the true source of energy for his ministry originated. It's a powerfully encouraging testimony for those of us who at times grow weary with the struggle.

In Galatians 2 he writes "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

In Hebrews 12:2 we read "...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Yes, at times, like Paul, our outward man will perish. We will become weary, we will run up against the limits of our physical bodies. But if we rely instead, not on our physical strength, but on Him to renew His strength, His might within us daily, burn out will not be a part of our vocabulary.

Whether or not you enjoy Jerry Seinfeld's particular brand of humor you can't deny that comedy runs through his veins. It's who he is. When we keep our focus on Jesus, our daily walk will be energized by His life within us. We are strengthened and renewed by His life running through our veins. Even though our outward man perishes, we cannot not be His disciples. It is simply who we are.