www.despair.com -- "Increasing success by lowering expectations"
(so much like the Old Adam and the Old Eve)
Arrogance cannot be avoided or true hope be present
unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work
--Martin Luther
(Heidelberg Disputation, Thesis 11)
" The Lord said, “You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow.
It grew up overnight and died the next day"
Jonah 4:10
Burnout is that complex set of emotional symptoms that includes hopelessness, frustration, anger, despair, apathy, self-pity, and lethargy. Burnout is the result of labor that seems pointless--that is, the work is never completed; the work doesn't remedy the situation; the work has no tangible effect upon the situation; and the future promises no change in the situation. One definition of insanity is "doing the same things over and over while expecting a different result. If you accept that definition, then burnout is the only "sane" response to those kinds of working conditions.
The prophet Jonah "burned out." He knew something about his God: that the Lord was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. (Jonah 4:2) Thus, when Jonah received a commission for the Lord to preach to Ninevah and declare its destruction, Jonah was confident that such destruction would never happen. Ninevah would repent and the merciful Lord would relent. This would make Jonah a "false prophet"--one whose prophecy failed to come about.
Sure enough... Jonah finally prophesied destruction to Ninevah, Ninevah repented, the Lord relented, and Jonah "burned out." He went off to a hillside and wished he were dead. The Lord had made a liar of him. He expected to be called into prophecy again; wherein the Lord would again make him a liar. Jonah expected this to be the pattern of his future. The only "sane" thing to do was to "burn out," if he didn't want to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
Today's preachers face Jonah's dilemma: preaching wrath, destruction, and repentance when God is merciful, forgiving, and loving seems an exercise in futility, frustration, and no change for the future. Their prophetic voice is called into question; their work appears fruitless; and their preacher looks as if it makes no difference. Their "burnout" is imminent. If the only "sane" thing to do is burnout, their prophetic voice changes target. The preacher's task no longer is to name people's sin and call for repentance. The preacher now speaks to assure them of God's love for them, to affirm them in their chosen lifestyles, and to motivate them to the self-actualization of their favorite agendas--personal, social, or political.
This "contagion" of burnout sweeps across the ranks of preachers. The preaching of God's Word delivering Jesus Christ categorically as THE way, THE truth, and THE life fades into the background since it demands the death of sinners in repentance so the Christ can be the life of the newly raised-up saints. The Word of God that kills to make alive is exchanged for a sentimental word which affirms the status quo.
This "burned out" attitude is indeed deadly. Without the proclamation of Justification by faith in Christ which works death and new life, these preachers simply leave their hearers dead in their sin while helping them feel good about their sinful condition and exhorting them to accomplish their various agendas.
But...
Thanks be to God that his Holy Spirit still gives life to "insane" preachers who will indeed keep on doing the same things over and over but not expecting different results--That is, they preach Christ categorically again and again and again even when such preaching seems pointless, unending, and without visibly remedy. With no other word than God's Word of death and new life, these crazy prophets simply declare it over and over to the delight of sinners who know the truth about themselves and God.
"I love to tell the story for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest."
LBW #390
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