BURN OUT SADDENS

“So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.” PSALM 78: 7

I can only speak of experience of being a man. As men grow into young adulthood and being a man, we believe we are becoming invincible. I know there is a song that referenced being 10 feet tall and bullet proof. I still feel some of that bravado as I limp around, creaking and groaning, into my 60th year. So it is a little unsettling when you realize you may be burning out physically, as well as emotionally and spiritually.

It is a crazy world out there I believe we can all agree. Last year, Russia unveiled an ICBM that supposedly can hit any place on Earth. NATO named it appropriately enough Satan 2. I don’t have enough space to list the things that have just occurred in the first half of this year. We know this world is crazy and more sadly, hopeless. I see the young people of today with no hope in their eyes or heart. This just makes me red faced mad to share this statistic but suicide is up among 10 to 14 year old children. Hopelessness is the main reason they give. We cannot let that stand.

I recently have been feeling bummed out and burnt out. It has really had me down to be quite honest….. More so than I can ever remember. The Bible tells of two men who were devastated and burnt out on it all about Jesus. They had felt He let them down. They thought He had failed in His mission. Jesus told them time and time again that He would die on a cross but it still came as a shock to them when it happened.

They saw Him beaten

They saw His traumatized body

They saw the bloodied body of Jesus, hanging there……THEY WERE DEVASTED!

They had visions of an overthrowing of their oppressors the Romans. He was to free them from this occupying force much in the way Moses had led them to freedom from their oppressors. However, this was never the game plan.

He did NOT come to wear a crown of gold BUT to wear a crown of thorns.

He did NOT come to sit on some regal throne BUT to die in shame on an old wooden cross.

That shame you ask—was mine, was yours…he paid the bill, it’s free and clear!

Jesus talked about it. He still talks about it today. Somehow they and we continue to miss the memo.

So, these guys did not want to think about these horrible events. They wanted to run. They wanted to hide so they got out of town. They were in a hopeless place in their minds. And who joined them on that road out of town? Jesus did. He took them on a tour of the Old Testament. He showed them all the passages that spoke of the coming Messiah.

Maybe you have lost hope today. Maybe my hope has been waning.

Maybe you have experienced tragedy that rocked your world. I know I have. I am clinging to the following:

JESUS RESTORES YOUR HOPE. HE RESTORES MY HOPE!!!! WHEN I AM THINKING I AM BURNING OUT… I NEED JESUS TO RELIGHT THE FIRE IN MY HEART AND IN MY GUY EVERY DAY!!!!

“The Mind Replays What the Heart Cannot Delete. Make Peace with Yourself! Our Own Worst Enemy May Live Right Behind Our Eyes!!!”